Affinity
by dancingstar513
Summary: What would Jacob and Bella's story have been if she had chosen him instead?
1. Silent War

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything remotely having to do with Stephenie Meyer's world of Twilight**

**[This takes place at the end of Eclipse, after Bella walks out of Jake's room after telling him her love for him wasn't enough.]**

_**Affinity**_

**Chapter 1—Silent War**

I shut Jake's door as quickly as I could because I could feel what was coming on and I didn't want him to see it. I tried to take the first step away from him, but I fell backward into his bedroom door, and slid to the ground. I covered my face with my hands and let the tears flow freely. What was happening to me? I had made this decision. There was no turning back. I knew who I couldn't live without.

"Bella?" I heard him call uncertainly. I childishly clamped my hands over my ears. I didn't want him to speak. I didn't think I could stand hearing his voice. It made me question the affirmation I had made—that I couldn't live without Edward. Jacob was right. I had never tried. Not that I ever wanted to face that again. On the other hand, though, Jacob would be there to keep me whole. He was always there. He had just told me he would take me even as a vampire, for God's sake! I tried to organize my thoughts. From past experience, I had determined that I couldn't live without Edward. But what on Earth had made me think that I could live without Jake? Was I going crazy? I had to pull myself together.

I heard a scream muffled by a pillow, something that sounded like wood splintering, and a shuddering intake of breath. I tried to commit every ounce of will I possessed to moving. I knew that if Jacob knew my decision hadn't been as clear-cut and as easy as I made it seem, it would hurt him even more than the heart stomping-on I had just dished out.

I didn't know how long I sat there, because time seemed to stop moving, but eventually, Seth came to check on Jake, and almost trod on me, the hopeless lump who was still collapsed against the door.

"Bella!" he exclaimed with surprise, a concerned look coming across his face.

"Shh!" I hushed him hysterically. It was too late—I heard a groan from Jake's room that had nothing to do with his resetting bones. Seth held out a hot hand to me, which I gladly accepted, and because I wobbled as he set me on my feet, he escorted me out to my truck.

"Can you make it home?" he asked. He was being too kind to me too…He should hate me for what I did to Jacob! I gritted my teeth and replied, "yes."

He watched me drive off with a wary eye, and I concentrated on breathing evenly. It helped that I knew what was waiting for me at home. Or did it? Is it who I wanted to be waiting for me tonight? Or every night for the rest of my life? I knew the answer to that at once. The answer was that I wasn't sure. That scared me even more than deciding so easily that I could leave Jake but not Edward. Had I really once thought that? The memory seemed to be dim, a million years away. The misery was just starting to overtake me again when I pulled into Charlie's driveway.

Thank God he wasn't home. Edward sat at the kitchen table, unmoving. When he saw my face, he immediately embraced me. It felt triumphant. It was too cold, and I shivered. He felt the tears drop onto his arms and his embrace became cautious.

It was a while before he spoke, giving me time to prepare for the question I knew he would ask. "I can't have you experiencing this much pain," he whispered into my hair. "If it's going to cause you this much despair, don't you wonder if it's the right choice?"

I only cried harder. He consoled me though I had no right to be treated that way. "Bella, love, I've told you. If this is what you need to be happy, then I'll let you have it. It's what I wanted in the first place, anyway. Though I never, in a hundred years, thought I could know loss like this. You haven't even said the words and I already feel it."

His voice wavered. I felt the guilt stabbing at my insides again. The grief sounded wrong on Edward, and it made me sad as well. But I froze when I realized something pivotal. While his pain made me feel sad for him, Jacob's pain actually caused _me_ immense pain. I had walked away from Jacob. He would never be whole again. Although I had told him he would find another girl someday, I knew those feelings would always eat at him, as they would me. If I walked away from Edward, he would also be left broken-hearted. But that's just the thing: his heart didn't beat. He might always be able to think about what we had, but he would be able to go on with life as normal, at least after a while. And that's exactly how long he had to move on: a while.

I took in a shuddering breath and pulled away from Edward's grasp to look in his golden eyes. Before I had a chance to say anything, he knew. The look that marred his features agitated my stomach.

"I understand, Bella. I'm more well-suited to deal with this, anyway. I will be diplomatic about this as I promised. But remember that as long as you live, I will always be there, ready for when his humanity causes him to err."

"Edward," I managed to mumble, swaying on the spot, "I'm not making any decisions tonight."

He smiled that godly smile that now had anguish diluting it. "No, but you will."

My legs gave out under me once again, and he was there in an instant. Everything was blurry, and I wasn't sure if I was facing up or down, but I knew that cold hands carried me up to my bed and brushed across my lips. The last thing I heard was, "I love you, my Bella. Good bye." And everything went black.

**Not what you expected at all, right? I mean, nobody's**_** ever**_** written fanfiction about Bella and Jacob after the events of Eclipse…hehe. I know it's pretty common, but I have been connecting with their potential story more and more, and something came over me. I just need to write this! **

**For the record, I am an Edward fan, I just fall in love with Jacob every time I read NM. Don't hate :)**

**I know it's short, but I had to get it out there. Expect more soon!**

**Another short note: the rating is at T for now, but may go up to M, depending on where I decide to take the story and the responses I get from my readers!  
**


	2. How It Ends

**Thanks so much to my reviewers for the first chapter! It was really encouraging. Hope you like chapter 2 just as much! **

_**Affinity**_

**Chapter 2—How It Ends**

I rolled over in bed to see Edward's beautiful body walking in the room.

"Hi," I whispered groggily. He smiled and sat carefully next to me on the bed. He bent over, and without warning, touched his cold lips to mine. This act he was not so careful in. There was a passion I'd never felt before in his kiss. Suddenly, I realized that it had become pitch black. Not even the glow that usually emanated from Edward existed. I couldn't see anything. I started to panic, pushing away from him. He was as surprised as I was. Hadn't I been the one begging for this? Sure, I craved his kiss and his company, but the darkness was more disturbing.

"What's wrong, love?" he asked me. I could feel his hands drop from my face.

"It's dark. It's impossibly dark," I tried to explain. I felt him leave my side and heard his quiet footsteps walking slowly away from me.

"I'm sorry, Bella," he said, his voice fading away as a few rays of sunlight started to peek through my curtains.

I awoke.

An eclipse. _"I can't fight with an eclipse,"_ Jacob had said. "Ugh," I muttered, rolling over to bury my head in my pillows. I heard a small, high-pitched gasp and sat up so fast I got a head rush.

"Alice?" I asked skeptically.

She stepped out of the shadows shyly. "I'm here. You've been out for a while, I had to make sure you were still breathing. How come I didn't know you were going to wake up now?" her eyes widened. "I can't s—"

"I HAVEN'T DECIDED YET!" I roared, quieting her, knowing what she was about to say. "Oh!" I exclaimed as I realized how loud I had been.

"Don't worry, Bella. Charlie knows I'm up here with you."

I lay back down on my bed, groaning.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked me hopefully.

"No."

"I think you should list the pros and cons."

"I _said_ no. It's all I've been able to focus on for the last 24 hours of consciousness, and I even dreamt about it! I need to take a break."

Alice resigned herself to my adamancy. "Okay. You need a girl's day. We'll go to Seattle. Call Angela, she'll go with us."

"Can you give me more than two minutes to wake up, please?" I growled, still grumpy from sleep.

Alice gave me a look that said 'really?' and grabbed on to my hand, pleading. "But Bella, I've been waiting almost 24 hours for you to get up! Hurry!"

"Well, excuse me for being human, Alice, but because of that, I will always be slower than you." As the words came out of my mouth, I felt horrified. Was Alice right? She couldn't be. I had _not_ decided. I tried to forget about that lapse and grudgingly got out of bed.

She smiled wryly and picked me up, ran me to the bathroom, and threw me into the ice-cold shower.

* * *

"Hi Ang!" I greeted my high school friend as she jumped in Alice's back seat.

"Hi Bella! Hi Alice. Nice car!" she exclaimed, taking in the Porsche.

Alice smiled smugly.

"You'll regret saying that," I told Angela. "She drives like a maniac."

Angela laughed, but I noticed her grip the back of my seat.

"Thanks for calling me, Alice. I'm getting sick of packing for college…and I'm really glad I get to see you again before you leave for Alaska, Bella."

I bit my lip. I hadn't quite gotten to that part yet. If I chose Edward…I refused to think about that subject. I'd figure all of this out later. I didn't quite know what to tell her, so I just nodded in response.

Alice picked up on my mood and put on some upbeat music that she started dancing and singing to, and it immediately took my mind off of forbidden subjects.

When we reached Seattle (in much less time than it should have taken us), our first stop was to get massages and manicures. I wasn't sure I'd be into this kind of thing today, but I was really enjoying myself, chatting idly with Angela and Alice.

We were headed to get lunch when Angela nudged me in the ribs. "Bella, aren't those the guys from your graduation party?"

I looked up to see Quil and Embry across the street, looking ashamed, like they'd been caught doing something they'd get in trouble for.

"They sure are." That explained why Alice had her nose scrunched up. I wanted to call out to them, go over to them, ask how Jake was. But two things stopped me: my vow not to think about this this morning, and the glare on Embry's face. I cringed away from it, but felt a strange sense of relief. At last! A reaction I deserved.

Alice leaned over and whispered in my ear, "Carlisle overheard them earlier when he was working at the Blacks'. They're here on a favor to Jacob to make sure you're safe."

"I'm safe with you!" I cried indignantly, forgetting that Angela would think my words were strange.

"They know that," she smiled at a memory of the fight just a few days before.

Angela didn't ask. It wasn't in her nature to intrude. And I was glad of that. I was preoccupied for the rest of the day, thinking about Jacob sending Quil and Embry to keep watch over me. At first it struck me as odd, because it seemed like something Edward would do. But then again, I had just had an army of newborn vampires after me. I think Jake was starting to realize just how danger-prone I really was. Then, it struck me unaware, like another dagger to my gut. Even after I had broken him down to tiny little pieces, he was still looking out for me. Why were they making this so hard?

Alice eyed me warily. "Bella. Snap out of it. We're having a fun day!" She emphasized the word fun. I put on my best fake smile and caught up to her and Angela.

* * *

I sank down into a chair at Charlie's kitchen table as soon as Alice and I got back. After seeing Quil and Embry, it had been a long day of pretending to be happy. Alice thought retail therapy would cure me, and I had acquired five new outfits. But nothing could cure this. Nothing except the one thing I knew I could never do: make a decision.

I picked my forehead off up the table and saw that Alice had placed two pieces of paper in front of me, one labeled "Jacob" and the other "Edward," both with "pros" and "cons" columns.

I rolled my eyes. "This is childish."

She laughed at me and put a pen into my hand for me. "I'll give you three minutes," she said. "Not that you need it. I can see—or can't see—that you've already decided."

I shook my head angrily, but gave up on trying to convince Alice of that, sighed and began writing.

After precisely three minutes, Alice grabbed them from my grasp and read aloud.

"Edward's pros. Beautiful." She pretended to gag.

"No commentary from the peanut gallery or you don't get to continue," I warned.

She put on an innocent face and kept reading. "Money. No college. Bella, your reasons better get better than this…Spending an eternity with my love. Joining the Cullen family. Cons. Losing Jacob. Giving up my family and friends. Thirst." She shifted the papers, eyes showing pity for me. "Jacob's pros. Beautiful. Warm. My sunshine. My best friend. Keeping my family and friends. I love him too. Joining the La Push family. Cons. Giving up Edward. Giving up Cullen family. Werewolfness." She analyzed the papers. "I wish you would have taken this more seriously. But I guess I have enough to work with. There are only two things wrong with your lists."

"What?" I was exasperated with this little, annoying vampire.

"First of all, all of this about losing Edward and the Cullen family is nonsense. We'll always love you and you'll always be part of our family. Even if you are in love with a dog," she smirked. "I can't speak for Edward for certain, but you know his love for you is so strong that he would be anything for you. It was his desire to watch you grow old, and now he can. If it means just being friends, I think he'd do that for you and for himself. He'd rather have that than not have you at all."

My head was swimming in all of this information. Could it be? Could I really only have to give up one thing? Was it possible for me to get almost everything I wanted? Was that selfish? Could it be justified because the damage I would do was minimal compared to destroying Jake? Or was that wrong? I had never considered this as an option. I collected my thoughts and looked back at my lists, confused. "What's the other thing?" I asked Alice.

"In this column," She put her dainty, white finger on Jacob's pros side, "you forgot to add that you've already chosen him."


	3. Cosmic Love

**Hey everyone! Thanks for the love on the last chapter. Sorry it's another short one, I promise they'll get longer. I hope you don't mind this one is in Jake's POV…I hope you like it! **

_**Affinity**_

**Chapter 3-Cosmic Love**

**Jacob's POV**

It had been a couple days since my heart had been ripped into tiny little pieces and burned one by one. For the first few hours I actually had hope that she'd come back saying she'd take me after all. Then, when that bout of stupidity passed, all I could do was replay the goodbye scene in my head and be a miserable lump. Now, I was doing better, but it took all I had to try to stop my mind from creating scenarios where she walked through my door and announced that she wanted nothing more than to be with me over that leech. At least I'd gotten past the stage where I asked everyone I knew to kill me…it helped that I could get out of the house now, and not have to sit, festering in my room, replaying it over and over. Thank God for my healing abilities.

At first, when she left my room and I could hear her crying outside, I was sure she had changed her mind. But I hadn't heard from her since then, so now I was pretty positive it was a lost cause. Until a few days ago, she'd never been able to see anything but him, which was really too bad, because we were perfect for each other. I understood where she was coming from, though, because since she waltzed into my life almost two years ago, I've been blinded.

Everyone was getting pissed with me because I was so angry and sullen all the time. Thank God I wasn't allowed to phase yet, because if they had to feel my pain, I can only imagine what they'd say to me.

_You knew this was bound to happen, Jacob. _

_Stop pining after her and find someone new._

Was that the only way to get over her, then, to find someone new? The problem with that was the only thing powerful enough to trump what I felt for Bella would be to imprint, and that scared the hell out of me. Loving Bella had taken up so much of my time and heart that I never wanted to forget that.

I was sprawled across the living room couch when I heard a knock at the door. The person standing there was the last person I expected. Leah.

I knew she was here to yell at me for moping around. She hated Bella, she hated the Cullens, and she hated me for letting them do this to me. I understood where Leah's anger came from, but I had never been able to understand how all of that hatred she harbored fit in her little body.

She invited herself in and sat on the couch I had been on a few seconds ago. I sat next to her warily.

I raised my eyes to hers and saw that she had dropped her tough mask and had tears glinting in her eyes.

"Why did you come here, Leah?" I asked her without the rough edge to my voice I had planned on using.

"I thought maybe you'd want to talk."

That caught me off guard. "_Talk_?" I asked incredulously.

Her face became hard and she snarled, "yeah, that thing people do sometimes to communicate?" A few seconds passed before she softened up again and said "I've been through what you're feeling, you know."

I thought that over for a second. "It's a little different, though. Sam didn't have a choice. Bella _chose_ to have him over me."

"You think that makes it better? At least Bella had a hard time doing it. At least she hasn't forgotten that she loves you," she choked out.

I felt bad, but I was getting frustrated with her. I awkwardly patted her back, but said, "we have 'everybody pity Leah' time every day. Not everything is about you."

She started shaking in rage, raising her voice. "If you had to _hear _Bella thinking about how much she loves that leech every second, how do you think_ you_ would feel?"

"At least I know there would be thoughts in there about me, too," I countered.

I stood up, slowly backing away from her as her shape started to blur. Oops. That was a low blow.

"This was obviously a bad idea." She snarled at me before running from the house.

I watched her go, regretting what I'd said, because I knew I'd have to a) apologize to her later and b) face Sam's wrath.

Billy rolled out of his bedroom at that point.

"Morning, Jake. Making Leah mad this early?" he joked.

"She started it," I said like a child. He noted my pissed off tone.

"Sit down," he insisted, rolling up to the kitchen table. I obediently followed.

He took a deep breath before starting. "When your mom died it tore my heart apart. I didn't know how to live without her, but I figured it out. Now, I'm not here to tell you to forget about Bella and move on, but son, you can't let your loss rule your life."

Was I wearing a sign that said 'Free Talks'? "I know dad, but I can't give up, or she'll really be gone for good." Filthy bloodsuckers.

The phone rang, effectively ending that conversation, thank God. I didn't think I could face any more talking today.

"Hello?" I asked with no emotion in my voice.

Nobody responded. I was about to hang up, but I faintly heard uneven breathing on the other end. If it were possible to know the sound of someone's breath, I knew Bella's.

"Hello?" I asked again, softly, this time, my voice burning with emotion.

The breath caught, and picked up faster than before.

"Bells," I whispered.

A gasp, and a dial tone. She hung up on me. My heart raced. Something was different. She was trying to reach me, to hear my voice, which meant she wasn't with _him_.

Maybe the events of the past fifteen minutes hadn't been so awful after all. I had come to a realize something. I told Bella I'd be good, that I'd be satisfied to just be her friend from a distance, but since I knew she loved me, I had no choice. I couldn't let her go, not like this. My persistence made her see she loved me, why couldn't it change her decision too? I was going to keep fighting, even if it killed me.

"Jake?" my dad called from the table. "Are you ready to go?" I cursed under my breath as he pulled me out of my revelation. I had forgotten I was supposed to take him to the nursing home today to see my grandma.

"Sure," I slipped a shirt on and wheeled my dad out to the car. We rode in silence, and I was thankful for that, because I didn't want to tell him that she had called. I was on an emotional roller coaster. I had been so sure of myself just a few minutes ago. But I was starting to doubt it again. It only made things worse to know how hard it was for her, and I wanted to believe so bad, but getting my hopes up would only give them farther to fall when the inevitable happened. I sighed, pushed Billy down the hall of the nursing home and noticed there were a lot of younger people there—it must have been a family and friends day.

My dad must have noticed too, because he nudged me and said "maybe you'll find a nice girl here."

But as I was rolling my eyes and telling him to shut up, that I would die before I found someone that could live up to Bella, I looked to my right and my stomach dropped. Unbelievable.

**Bet you can't guess what it is! :p **

**By the way, HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Leave a review and let me know what you were for Halloween. Anybody see any brilliant costume ideas?**

**Also, I know there's a whole system for finding a beta, which I will go through if I have to, but I would really like my beta to be someone who chose me, having read my story because they wanted to, so if any of you are willing to, let me know! **

**That's all for now, expect more soon! **


	4. Tragedy

**Thank you to all my reviewers for chapter 3! I struggled a lot to get this chapter just right, so I hope you enjoy it! It's a little longer, and contains the first confrontations. Get excited! **

**Chapter 4—Tragedy**

**Bella's POV**

If Alice hadn't forced me to get up and take a shower this morning, I would probably still be laying in bed with the pillow pressed over my face, trying to will myself into an alternate universe where this choice didn't exist. According to Alice, there wasn't still a choice to be made, and I had even accepted that that might be true. That didn't make it any easier. I recalled the conversation that happened just last night after making my pros and cons lists.

"…_You forgot to write that he's who you've already chosen."_

_I opened my mouth to argue, as I had been doing all day when she mentioned this topic, but for some reason, when she said it this time, the weight of the truth hit me like a wrecking ball. I knew Jake wasn't the one I could leave. _

_Alice was smiling contentedly as she watched my face, but it turned into a frown when I stood up suddenly, looking like I was going to vomit. _

So I knew what I would do if this were easy. But there were Edward's feelings and our love to take into account too. I had to sort this out soon. I needed to talk to Edward.

"Are you ready to talk about this yet?" Alice asked as she watched me wash the dishes.

"I'm ready to talk about why you're not helping me with these," I growled.

She jumped up and began drying the dishes for me. "You're so avoidant, Bella," she told me.

"Am not," I countered, "I've been thinking about it all day. I decided I need to speak to Edward."

"Perfect!" she brightened up, picking up her phone immediately.

"Wait!" I cried. "Have you told him about…what you've seen?"

"No. Of course not. I've been very careful not to think of your future when I'm around him. Now let me give him a call and he should be over in just a little bit. He's been waiting for this."

* * *

I walked to the door as slowly as possible, and opened it without looking straight into his face. The breath was knocked out of me as he pulled me into a tight embrace. We breathed each other in for a moment, and I started to get dizzy. I pushed against his chest to clear my head.

"You sit there," I pointed to the farthest chair from the couch, where I planned to sit. I figured it would be the piece of furniture I was least likely to fall off if I happened to faint.

He laughed but complied, kissing my hand as he passed by.

I was getting frustrated with him. How was I supposed to do this when he was clouding my mind with his scent and kisses?

"Edward," I began, "I could try to explain this a million different ways, but none of them would be good enough. I love you. I love you so much it almost broke me down once. I thought I'd never get back up. And then I did. Because of Jacob. He's my light, the one who makes me able to breathe when you're not around. But when _he's_ not around, I can't forget that missing piece, even with you. If it were anyone else, there wouldn't even be a question. But since I have to choose, Edward, I'm choosing Jacob." I let my words ring in the silence. I was clamping my hands in my lap so I wouldn't nervously flail them around, but now I released the pressure a bit, because saying it aloud had taken a huge weight off my shoulders, and I was feeling much more certain about myself. I couldn't take my eyes off his, and impressively, they didn't change from their knowing, loving gaze.

"I have been preparing for this," he said suddenly, "although it is much harder actually hearing you say it…I suppose I should give you the speech I planned. Jacob might be a dangerous werewolf, but he is very well-suited for you. He's strong and stable, and he can give you a lot of things I can't. But most importantly, I've seen inside his mind, and I know that he loves you so much more than I ever thought possible for a human, even a half-breed like himself." I narrowed my eyes at him, but he continued. "I only ever wanted you to be happy and go through your life as a human. Now you can."

I gawked, only mostly surprised he was taking it so well. He was a vampire who'd had decades to perfect controlling his reactions, after all. "What are you going to do?" I asked him.

"I'll go away for a while, to make things easier for all of us. I'll forever be broken because of this, but I _am_ the reason your relationship with Jacob was ever set into action, so I will accept that and learn to live with it. It is very important for you to know, though, that I will be around whenever you need me. Say the word and I will be a shoulder to cry upon, or someone to talk to, anything you need." He stood up gracefully, sauntering over to the couch and scooping me up swiftly. He planted a gentle kiss on my cheek and buried his face in my hair. My heart sped up as was its usual response, but also because I knew this could be the last time he kissed me. I turned my head away from his face so I wasn't tempted to draw my lips to his for a last, sweet kiss.

He set me down, holding my hand, and stared into my eyes and said, "good bye, Bella. I will always love you." His beautiful face burned with intensity. He dropped my hand and turned away.

"I love you too," I whispered as he walked out.

I fell back onto the couch, waiting for the tears to start, but they didn't. Instead, I only felt a strong yearning to be with Jacob. The aching in my chest wasn't for my impossibly perfect vampire, it was for my perfectly imperfect werewolf. Just then, it hit me that this was the right choice.

I picked up the phone to call first, to make sure he wasn't so angry with me that he didn't want to see me.

He answered on the second ring and I froze. His voice sounded different—a mixture of pissed off and broken. All I could hear was the sound of my own breath. I had to focus to keep it even, and I wasn't doing such a great job.

"Hello?" he asked again. Was it possible he knew it was me? It had to be, because this time, I heard everything I needed in that one word. He loved me. He needed me too. He wasn't surviving without me. I forgot to breathe for a moment, and when I remembered, it bordered on hyperventilation.

"Bells," he whispered knowingly. It had such a powerful effect on me that I had to gasp to stop the breath from coming so fast. My body unfroze, and I abruptly hung up the phone.

I had some serious issues. I couldn't even talk to the man I had just professed my undying love for. Maybe the visit to him could wait until tomorrow. I sighed. It was hard to believe I'd ever experience a normal emotion again.

Alice reentered and I glared at her. "You. Out."

She looked taken aback. "What? Why?"

I grumpily stomped over to the fridge, pulling out ingredients to make dinner for Charlie. I set them down and pointed at her accusatorially. "You started this."

* * *

Thankfully I had to work the next morning, or I'd have been a wreck waiting around until a decent hour to make the trip to La Push.

Mrs. Newton was probably starting to question my sanity. When I first walked in, she asked how my weekend was, and I responded with a "yes."

She even let me go early because she could tell I was preoccupied. I was surprised I could even drive because I was shaking so violently. I was so nervous I couldn't even put the words I would say together in my head. How was it so easy to break someone's heart, but so hard to put someone else's back together?

I pushed my truck as fast as it would go down to La Push, and when I got there, Jake's car wasn't in the driveway. I went to the door anyway, and Billy answered, with an unreadable expression on his face. He let me in to wait for Jacob, and I sat on the couch, watching some game show. Billy kept shooting me uneasy sideways glances, but he never asked any questions—which I was glad of.

When Jake walked in a little while later, I almost lost it. My anxiety disappeared just seeing his silhouette in the doorway, replaced with hysteria.

"Hey, Dad!" he was smiling from ear to ear, but it disappeared when he saw me sitting there. His eyes widened and I heard him mutter "Shit! Shit, shit, shit. I am _not_ ready for this!" He turned his body halfway, like he was prepared to run out the door.

"Jake, wait!" I cried, a little too passionately. He whipped his head around to look me in the eyes, and I saw a heartbreaking mixture devastation and love. That brought out a reaction in me I wasn't expecting. I wanted to comfort him, tell him everything, and I also felt extremely guilty for causing the grief. I noticed Billy trying to be subtle about wheeling out of the room, but I was distracted. I could feel the heat emanating from Jake's figure. My body remembered the feel of his hands on me, and his lips eagerly kissing mine. I had to be closer to him. I took a step forward, but he said, "Bella, please don't start. I know the pain this is going to cause, and I don't think I could handle it." His voice sounded dead again.

"No! It's not like that. I'm not here to hurt you any more. I came here…I came here to tell you that I was wrong." He looked shocked. His eyes started to light up, but then he cringed away from me.

"You don't mean it," he whispered, reaching his hand out toward me like he meant to take mine, but pulled it back at the last second.

"I do, Jacob. I mean every word. I talked to Edward, even. We're free to be together. I love you, Jake, and I want to be with you." I noticed that my voice sounded hysterical and tears were gushing from my eyes, but I didn't dare try to stop those reactions.

I expected him to close the distance between us and kiss me or something, but he just stood there, looking like half of him were being pulled in another direction while the other half tried to stay here.

"Hello?" I asked, half-jokingly. "Isn't this what you wanted?" My face fell. "Or did I do too much damage? Are you upset with me still? I understand if you are, but Jake, I need you." I was flailing my hands around, and he caught them from the air. The warm, firm grasp sent a chill up my spine.

"Stop," he pleaded. My jaw dropped at the desperation in his voice. His eyes stayed affixed on the ground, and I felt that his body was shaking. What was going on in his head?

"Calm down," I warned him, placing a hand on his cheek. This seemed to do the trick—his vibrations stopped.

"Bella. I don't know what to say. I want this more than anything in the world. But I can't…devote myself to you." I can imagine I had the most confused and hurt look on my face. "I'm sorry. I can't because I—I imprinted."

* * *

Looking back, I honestly don't remember what happened after that, but I must have sprinted from the Blacks' and driven home, because I found myself hours later, crying facedown in my bed. Maybe I _was_ avoidant…

He _imprinted_! My Jacob, who was supposed to love only me, imprinted. He would never be able to love me like that again. Why was I so distraught? Wasn't it only fair for him to hurt me as much as I had hurt him? I tried to remind myself that it wasn't Jake's choice, and I suddenly wished Edward were here for me to cry to. What was wrong with me? I couldn't go jumping between guys just because the other was unavailable. This was so wrong!

I couldn't believe this. I had ruined everything. I had two great things and they were both gone. It was all over…

The doorbell rang and I shouted with my thoughts for them to go away, because there was no way I was getting up to answer the door. It rang and rang, and I vaguely realized it could be important. I slowly got up out of bed and looked in the mirror. I looked awful. My hair was a disaster from tossing and turning in a ponytail, my face looked pale and tired, my clothes were wrinkled, and my eyes were red and puffy from crying. _Oh well,_ I thought, _there's no one I'm trying to impress anyway…_I started to head down the stairs when I realized the ringing had stopped, and the person had entered the house.

I tried not to be afraid as I listened to them approach where I was, but I jumped when they spoke.

"Bells? It's me."

My heart thudded to a stop.

**So…what did you think? It seems like a suspenseful ending, but I'm sure you can guess who it is!**

**I'm sure some of you have realized by now that my chapters are named after song titles. It really helps me write when I have music to put it to, and apparently I'm kind of building my own soundtrack for this story. So I would like to offer up a challenge. If you leave a review with a song that I find inspirational enough to use for a future chapter, I will give something in return. I'm thinking I could send you that chapter before I post it so you get a sneak peak, but I'm willing to compromise :) **

**Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review! Be as critical as you can, I need to make this the best I can for you guys.**


	5. The World Without

**Hi everyone! I know it's been the longest wait yet for a new chapter, but I've had work and exams like crazy this last week! Sorry this one jumps between POVs, but I hope you like it. No, wait. I hope you LOVE it! Thank you to all my reviewers for the last chapter, and those who favorited/alerted me! Your responses are so encouraging, and keep this story moving along so quickly. Enjoy! **

_**Affinity**_

**Chapter 5—The World Without**

In a moment, my breathing started back up again. It was just Jacob. Wait, not _just _Jacob, _my_ Jacob was here. Why? To apologize for hurting me? To rub salt in the wounds like I had to him? That would only be fair.

He bounded up the stairs to where I was with a wry smile.

"Why are you here?" I asked, frowning. My voice was hoarse and my throat felt dry.

"You look awful," he joked, taking another step and reaching out to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. I couldn't help but melt into his touch. "I have more to say. I think I—"

"What more is there to say? You imprinted. All hope for us is gone."

"Don't say that!" he pleaded. "It's not…if you would just let me explain…" His eyebrows knitted together.

"Explain away," I invited him.

Without asking, he pushed past me to my bedroom and sat on the corner of my bed, patting the spot next to him. I sat down, uncomfortable being able to feel my sun's warmth but knowing he would never shine for me again.

"Her name is Kaia. She is…amazing."

"I don't want to hear this, Jacob." I felt a stabbing pain in my chest. I clutched my hand to my heart and tears fell down my face. Or maybe they had never stopped. He was still smiling at me.

"I don't think this is such a light matter," I whispered, trying to sound angry.

He laughed at my feeble attempt, and took my hand from over my heart and intertwined our fingers. "You're still not letting me finish. I am still as in love with you as I was two days ago."

I blushed a little, but said, "Well, that's what happened to Sam and Leah too. Just because he loved her didn't mean it was enough to fight the pull to Emily."

He was rubbing his temples in frustration. "I know that, Bells."

"So there's nothing we can do." I stared straight ahead.

"There has to be. It's not the same with Kaia as it was with Emily. I'm not going to give up on you, I just can't figure out how right now."

I turned to him and looked straight past his eyes and down into his soul. I could see the conflict there, and hurt for him. I wanted to fix it.

"Do you love me?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Do you love her?"

"Not like I love you."

"I understand. Imprinting is so much stronger."

"It's not—"

"Will you kiss me?" I waited for him to make a move. He squeezed his eyes shut.

"Bella, I can't."

"You can't or you don't want to?"

"There's nothing I want more. But I can't do that to you. It will only make it worse when I have to walk away."

I stared at him in frustration. I knew I agreed, but something in me was clouding that common sense, and shouting at me that I should do it anyway. It wasn't unlike me to get easily over-eager about kisses, so I wasn't quite surprised when I closed the distance between us in one leap and flung my arms around his neck.

"I asked you to kiss me," I scolded. I pressed my lips to his, and he didn't take longer than a second to react. His arms encircled me, his hands splayed out against my back. His lips molded to mine, warm and soft. In an uncharacteristic way (I'd never been physically able to move Edward), I pushed Jacob back so he was laying on his back without breaking the kiss. I straddled his waist and he let out a guttural moan. His hands found their way to the bare skin of my back, and in response, I sighed into his mouth. He pulled away and I kissed his neck, from his chin to where his v-neck t-shirt started.

"Jesus Christ, Bells," he groaned. I moved back up to his mouth and planted a firm, quick kiss, and jumped away from him. I tried to control my breath and straightened out my ponytail.

"Good bye, Jacob."

He stared at me dumbstruck, still lying on the bed and breathing hard.

I kept my gaze on his face as he slowly sat up, and walked past me, not saying a word.

My head was swimming. I didn't even know where to begin. I had made the ever-confident, almost-pompous Jacob Black speechless. The look on his face was priceless, and it would have been funny if this hadn't been such a dire situation. I couldn't blame him, though; I was still tingling from the kiss.

There was a nagging voice in the back of my head that wouldn't let me believe it really was goodbye. Something about this imprinting situation must be wrong. Should we have been able to kiss like that if he really had imprinted? Part of me wanted to believe that he was making it up so I wouldn't hurt him again, but the light in his eyes when he talked about her told me otherwise. What was I going to do? I supposed I knew. He said he wasn't giving up, so I couldn't either.

**Jacob's POV**

What…the hell…was that? Leave it to Bella to attack me just when I was getting comfortable with the fact I had imprinted. How could I resist her? I was still so attracted to her, and of course she played that card. Damn it! I ran on my own two feet to Kaia's house, because I didn't want the guys and Leah to know how I had been affected by that kiss…

I must have been more preoccupied than I thought, because before I knew it, I was in front of Kaia's house. I shook it off, and walked in without ringing the doorbell. I had only imprinted on her two days ago, but she and her mother had already accepted me unconditionally.

"Hello, Jacob," her mother greeted me. "Kaia's in her room." There was a lot of sadness in her face, which was really understandable, since she had lost her husband and son only months before in a car accident. I walked to her bedroom, thinking about this whole situation. I knew that's why I had been sent to Kaia, because she was not only struggling with that loss, but also because she was only a few months into remission for leukemia as well. She was still young, only 12, and right now, she needed a friend and support, but maybe…that's why I was so hesitant with Bella, I wasn't _in_ love with Kaia, but I loved her. And I knew that someday, when Kaia needed a lover, I would be that person. And I couldn't hurt Bella like that. But my mind couldn't help think about Quil and Claire. I knew that he lost all desire to even look at other girls even though Claire was only 2 when he imprinted on her. I, on the other hand, still wanted to be with Bella. _So bad_.

I tried to clear my head as I opened Kaia's door. She was standing by her bed, with every article of clothing she owned strewn across the floor in piles. I could feel my heart lighten when I saw her perfect face.

"Hi Jacob!" She exclaimed, running over to me and hugging me.

"Hi! What's with the mess?" I asked her.

"I'm sorting through my clothes. I'm going to donate the ones I don't need anymore."

I'd only known her a couple days, yet her compassion kept striking me. "That's great, Kai. What made you decide to do that?"

She had a strange look on her face. "There are people out there who need them more than I do."

* * *

Her mom invited me to dinner, so I stayed around, and we spent the night watching her favorite movies and talking. Her mom had gone out to visit her sister, who was her best friend, and we were left alone, so we could talk freely about our situation. I felt bad for taking up all of her time, so I apologized for it.

"I'm sorry I'm keeping you from your friends, or whatever else you did before I met you," I said. Her reaction surprised me. She laughed.

"Be real, Jake. I've been in and out of hospitals since I was three years old. Even if someone wanted to be friends with 'the girl with cancer,' I haven't had time to make real friendships. Until you," her face glowed.

"I have a hard time believing that."

"It's true," she paused, a little blush showing through her dark skin. I noticed that she looked tired. "You said that this imprinting thing…that when I'm older we'll fall in love…but I can tell there's something you aren't telling me. Who is she?"

I hesitated. To tell her or not to tell her? I couldn't keep anything from her if that's what she wanted. "Her name is Bella. She is—was—everything to me, before you. We've been through a lot, but we're best friends, and I am so in love with her."

She was staring into my face. "I can see that. So why aren't you together?"

"Because of this," I said simply. "Because of what this will be."

She didn't look happy. "I can tell that it upsets you, though. Can't you choose her?"

"If only it were that easy…Are you telling me you won't want me?" I joked, lightening the mood.

"I'm not even a teenager yet!" she shrieked, laughing. "And, because I am more mature than most twelve-year olds, I can be unselfish and tell you to be with her if that's what you want."

"Like I said," I sighed, admiring her. "If only it were that easy."

"I'm not feeling very well," she said, closing her eyes and leaning her head back onto the couch.

I stood up in an instant and took her into my arms, running down the hall to her bedroom, without jostling her. I laid her down in her bed and she smiled up at me.

"Thanks, Jake."

"Are you going to be okay?" I asked. She nodded. "I'll see you in the morning, then."

"Are you running patrols tonight?" She asked.

"Yeah, with Leah, unfortunately. It's the first time I've been able to phase, so it'll be the first time with Leah in my head since our last fight…Should be interesting!"

She laughed. I bent down to tuck her in. "See you," I told her.

"Wait," she whispered, sleep threatening to take her. "Can I meet Bella? If you love her she must be great."

I smiled, conflicted. "Maybe someday."

**Bella's POV**

"Hi Alice," I spoke into the phone.

"Bella! Why hasn't anyone been answering your phone? If I were a human and couldn't sneak around your house I would be worried about you!"

I almost laughed. "Charlie was fishing all day and was at Billy's for dinner, and I haven't been in any mood to speak to you."

"I'm hurt!"

"When someone wants to wallow in their sorrow, the last thing they want is your peppy little voice scratching at their eardrums."

"Ha, ha, Bella. So why did you call me if you are so busy wallowing?"

"I'm cheating. I want to know if you still can't see me." She couldn't see, but I was wringing my hands, waiting for her answer.

"You think you're changing your mind again?" She sounded surprised.

"No, it's not that. Jake…im—imprinted."

"So _that's_ what you were muttering about in your sleep."

"That is so creepy, Alice. Are you going to help me out or not?"

"I can't see you. Happy?"

Deep down, I was. But I was still very confused. "Thanks. I think I'm going to see him this afternoon, after work."

"You don't want me to come over and make you look stunning beforehand so you knock him out?" I could practically hear her smirking.

"I can handle the knocking out on my own, thanks."

"Hm," she huffed, as if that was the last thing she believed.

"I have to go to work now," I told her. "I'll talk to you later."

"Good bye," she said shortly.

I laughed as I hung up the phone, then sighed. I really needed to find a new job. I grabbed my vest and drove to Newton's. When I pulled in, I saw mike's new car, and rolled my eyes. Great, a full shift with Mike on the slowest day of the week. Just what I needed.

Naturally, the first conversation we had was about how Edward seemed to be out of the picture, and he was wondering if he could take me out to dinner. And naturally, I shot him down.

He looked downtrodden. "I guess I knew that. Since you got to Forks, that's always been the answer."

"That's because I always knew Jessica was perfect for you," I joked. He shot me a glare.

I suffered through the rest of the day, worried about how my confrontation with Jacob would go. Little did I know, I couldn't have imagined what would happen when I got to his house.

Before I had a chance to step out of my truck, Sam was by my door.

"Bella, go home," he ordered.

I must have looked really confused, because his face softened and he explained. "Jacob imprinted. Even though she's still young, it's killing him to have to deal with your advances. So please, leave us alone."

I didn't fail to notice the pack plural at the end, and I should have gotten mad about him accusing me of "making advances," but my head was grasping on to one thing only. "She's still young," he had said.

"She's young?" I asked.

"Jacob hasn't told you about her?"

"Not much."

"Don't let that encourage you. You know how it is, even with Quil."

I couldn't help but to stare at his shirtless body and compare it to Jacob's. Oops. Last thing I should be thinking about right now. I blushed. "Is he here?"

"No. He's at the hosp—he's with her."

I narrowed my eyes. Sam had every right to be upset with me, but it still stung a little. And now he was trying to tell me to stay away from Jake? And trying to cover something up. Well, I would take it like a big girl. I slammed my door and threw the truck into reverse. Mature, I commended myself.

When I got back home, Charlie was holding the phone, and said, "It's for you."

I wondered who was calling me, and I answered, "Hello?"

"Hi," I heard a little voice on the other end. "Bella? It's Kaia."


	6. If It Means A Lot To You

**I'm so sorry I've kept you waiting so long for this! I've had exams and with Harry Potter and Thanksgiving, I've been a bit preoccupied...But here is chapter 6! **

**If It Means A Lot To You**

**Chapter 6**

**Jacob's POV**

I sat by Kaia's hospital bed with a stack of magazines. We hadn't spoken since I had arrived at the hospital, worried to death by the note her mom had left me on their front door—"Jacob, at the hospital. Kaia's sick again." I sprinted down here, only to find her looking as comfortable as ever in bed, watching "The Price Is Right." I couldn't help but be happy to see her looking fairly well.

"Kai?" I asked quietly. She looked up, her face seeming content. "What's going on?"

"The cancer is back, Jake. They're doing tests to find out for sure, but I know. But I'll be fine," she smiled happily.

I shook my head. "You amaze me."

"I've been through this a lot," she said simply.

Her mom and the doctor came in at that point. Her mom sat down on Kaia's other side and held her hand, and I did the same, with a strange sense of foreboding.

"Give me your worst, Doc," Kaia said, still with a grin.

"Well, as you know, we've been running tests on you, and I'm sorry to say the cancer is back." She gave her mom a 'told-you-so' look. "We'd like to start your treatment as soon as possible, but there is a slight complication."

I squeezed her hand, and she looked worried for a split second before saying, "what is it?"

"The cancer is farther along than we would like, and, based on your blood tests, it would seem your body has developed a resistance to your regular treatment regimen." Her mom gasped. "That is not to say it is untreatable, it will just be much more rigorous to get rid of it this time. I'll give you time to think about what you want to do, and I'll come back tomorrow." He left the room quietly.

"Think about what you want to do?" I asked.

She looked at me with wide eyes. "Last time…I almost decided I didn't want to go through the chemo again, because it takes such a toll on me. But I did it, because I thought it might be the last time. And now…"

"You can't!" I shouted, jumping up. Kaia and her mother both looked at me like I was insane.

"Jacob, please leave for a minute," her mom asked, rubbing her temples.

I had no problem doing that. Tremors were ripping through my body. I ran out of the room, and skidded to a stop when I passed a girl who used the same shampoo as Bella. The simple scent stopped my shaking and I calmed down instantly. I walked through the halls of the hospital, feeling awful for blowing up on Kaia like that. I wanted to go back, but I didn't know what I would say this time. I walked for probably a half hour before I decided it was safe to go back in. I hung my head sheepishly and Kaia laughed at me. I noticed she was alone, and the sound of her laugh made me smile, despite the whole situation.

"I'm sorry," I said, resuming my position by her side.

"It's okay. It's understandable. That's the reaction my mom had at first too, last time."

"Do you really want to die?" I asked blatantly, almost rudely.

"Not particularly, but it's not much of a life being constantly weak and sick and spending the majority of my time in a hospital."

"You don't want to stay alive for your mom?"

"My mom is stronger than anyone I've ever known. She's got her sister, she'll be fine. She's come to terms with this like I have."

"For me?" I whispered.

She looked straight into my eyes with intensity. "You've been more than I could have asked for. And you will be, for however long this lasts," she motioned to herself.

"How can you be okay with this? Please. It will _kill_ me." I was pleading.

She sighed. "But you will be okay, Jake. You've got Bella."

I laid my head on the side of her bed, willing myself not to cry.

"Jake, it will all be fine," she whispered, patting my head.

I stayed with her until morning, when she told the doctors she was going to forego treatment, and I rode home with her. Her illness was progressing fast, and it physically hurt me to see how much pain she was in, but her spirit never once let it show. She was an angel.

**Bella's POV**

I walked anxiously to the door of the modest little house on the Quileute Reservation that held the man I loved and his imprint. It had taken me a while to gather the courage to come down here, especially after what Sam said to me, but Kaia had explained everything to me, and that helped out just a little bit.

I knocked on the door, and her mom let me in, saying Kaia had mentioned I might be stopping by. She was a pretty woman, but she had obviously seen better days. She pointed me down the hall toward Kaia's room, where the door was open. I walked as quietly as I could down the hall, because I couldn't hear any noise coming from the room. I stayed out of sight, but peeked my head in and saw a pale-looking but smiling young girl lying in bed, talking to an over-sized man who was sitting in a chair next to her.

"I can tell that you miss her, Jacob, it really is okay if you leave me alone for a few hours. I'll live," she joked, but his face showed that he did not find it funny. His face kind of shocked me, actually. I had never seen him look like he was in more pain besides when half of his bones were shattered and I had just shredded his heart. I needed to be next to him. I stepped into the doorway.

"There's no need for that," I said quietly. Jacob's head whipped around, looking like a wreck. Kaia smiled at me and said, "you _are_ beautiful, Jake wasn't lying!"

I, in typical Bella fashion, turned beet red at the compliment and mumbled, "I could say the same for you."

"Bells, why are you here?" Jake asked me, his voice sounding strained.

"Because of me," Kaia stated proudly. Jake looked at her questioningly. "I called her the other day. Like you're here for me when I need you most, I want Bella to be here for you when you need her most."

I was struck by her maturity. I was still standing awkwardly in the doorway, and Jake was looking back and forth between the two of us.

"I told her everything," Kaia said seriously. "And honestly, I'm surprised you didn't come earlier."

"I had to collect myself first," I said. I would tell Jake about Sam some other time. I took slow steps toward him, afraid of how my body would react after our last encounter. I reached his side, and noticed he was almost taller than me, even sitting down. I wasn't expecting him to move, since he looked so tortured, but when I stood next to him, he wrapped a scalding arm around my waist. I put my arm around his shoulder, and turned, meaning to kiss his temple, but he twisted his head up at the last second and pressed our lips together. The surprise of it threw me off a bit, and I pulled back. I remembered there was someone else in the room, and I chanced a glance at her, but she was grinning encouragingly at the two of us. I was pretty sure this was not how it was supposed to work, but I'd take it.

"I'm going to go grab another chair," I said. "That is, as long as I'm welcome."

Kaia nodded. "More than welcome. Jake, could you get me a glass of water please?" She added.

Jacob got up and left the room after me. When we both reached the kitchen, he walked toward the cupboard without making eye contact with me, and stood for a minute before grabbing a glass, shaking slightly. I jumped when his hand contracted around the glass and it promptly shattered. He just stood there, looking at the mess. I walked toward him automatically, carefully avoiding the glass shards on the ground.

"Back up, Bella," He warned. I did the opposite. I placed a hand on his shuddering stomach. His shaking reduced to a slight tremor, but his face stayed angry.

"How is this fair?" He practically yelled.

"Shh, it's not. Calm down, Jake," I whispered.

"Calm down?" He started shaking violently again. I stepped away. "How can I calm down? She's giving up. She's fucking QUITTING!" His shape was blurring, and dissonantly, he took a step closer to me. My flawed sense of danger screwed up again, and I wasn't afraid. Unexpectedly, he came even closer to me, and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me onto his lap as he sat in a kitchen chair. I gasped in surprise, and he buried his head in my shoulder.

"Oh, Jake," I rubbed his back in consolation. He looked up, his face unbearably close to mine, and his dark eyes glimmered with optimism for a second. I noticed his shaking had stopped as he held me.

"Thank you for being here," he said quietly. "It makes me believe there's actually an ounce of hope in this fucked up world."

"Jacob Black! Watch your language!" I joked, trying to cover a blush.

He actually let the corners of his mouth turn up a little bit, and he squeezed me tight.

When I was gasping for breath, he let me go and said, "Love you Bells." He set me on my feet, and his face turned haunted again. "Time to go suffer while I watch Kaia die."

So much for hope.

* * *

**So there you go. Please remember to review and let me know what you think! And while you're at it, tell me what your favorite thing was that you ate at your Thanksgiving dinner. Mine was a brussel sprout salad...I know, gross. Hope everyone had a good holiday! And you won't be waiting as long for the next chapter :)**

**Oh! And by the way, I'm changing the rating on this to M...for strong language and possible mature themes in the future...**


	7. Dream

**I told you it wouldn't be that much longer! Thank you to all those who reviewed and added me to your favorites! I hope more of you will find that you enjoy this story too as it goes on. My goal is to reach 50 reviews by chapter 10. Think you can do that? Read your hearts out :)**

**Oh! And happy Hanukkah to all of you who celebrate it!  
**

_**Affinity**_

**Chapter 7**

**Dream**

I spent most of my days at with Jake at Kaia's house unless I had to work. Charlie didn't give me a hard time about not being around either, because I explained that Jake had a sick friend and he needed me there. In fact, Charlie seemed almost satisfied that it was Jacob and not Edward I was spending time with.

Kaia wasn't getting any better, but she kept us laughing and hopeful with her cheery optimism.

Jake was getting worse as well, as he watched her deteriorate, but there were times that I caught him staring at me, not looking so somber.

We spent our time talking about Kaia mostly, and the things she'd done in her life. We never talked about the things she wouldn't get to do, but she'd accomplished so many things that she'd already lived a full life.

Jacob was always there holding her hand and staring at her like a suffering angel. When she was in a particularly great amount of pain, she would squeeze his hand, and he'd turn his head away and bite back a groan. I was always there, though, holding his other hand and allowing him a moment of vulnerability.

I helped her finish collecting the clothes she wanted to donate, and helped her mother, Naomi, out around the house. She accepted me into their bizarre little family just as easily as Kaia had.

One day, when Kaia was feeling especially ill, Naomi rushed in, looking slightly afraid.

"What is it, mom?" Kaia asked weakly.

"There's a huge man here! He's even bigger than you, Jacob!"

I laughed. I could understand why she would be frightened. "Sam," Jake and I said knowingly.

"Let him in," Jacob told her.

Sam came in and shut the door behind him. He pointedly did not look at me. I could see him trying to figure out what was going on.

"The pack needs you," he boomed at Jacob.

"I am needed elsewhere," he never looked away from Kaia, who was looking around him curiously.

"There's a vampire coming."

Jacob's face anxiously found mine, which was now horrified. I'd practically forgotten about the Volturi. And if it was one of them out there, they would head straight for me.

"Come, Jacob."

He jumped up automatically.

"Bella will stay with Kaia," Sam said, making reconciliatory eye contact with me. He was obviously confused about the strange situation, but realized it must have been okay.

I grabbed Jake's hand and said, "Be careful. Let me know as soon as you know something. Are the Cullens there?"

Sam nodded. "They're the ones who called us in case the leech came to our side. Don't worry, Bella."

Jake kissed my cheek, then Kaia's, then turned around to leave.

**Jacob's POV**

There were so many reasons I didn't want to do this right now, but much more important reasons why I had to, namely, Sam's order. I wish he hadn't. I didn't want transform because nobody knew my whole story yet, and I didn't want to hear their reactions. Also because I didn't want to burden them with my suffering. But I had to fight because if one of the Volturi were back, Bella was in danger, and because she was with Kaia, they were both in danger.

I ran along with him until we reached the forest, then I transformed as quickly as I could. I ran faster than I ever remembered running before, and it felt so good. I tried to forget everything, but before I could even begin, I heard their voices.

_Jake, man, I'm really sorry._

_I had no idea. How are you holding up?_

_I'm fine,_ I tried to tell them as I continued running.

_Are you sure? You don't seem okay,_ Seth thought.

_Back off, okay? _I hadn't meant to be so harsh, but it worked—everyone was keeping their thoughts to themselves.

I knew I must have been getting close to everyone. I could smell them before I saw them: the pack and the vampires.

"When their path stopped changing, I could see that it was just a nomad passing through, and Carlisle and Emmett went to go see if they could catch up to him and ask him to continue on before hunting," the little one was explaining, looking up at the wolves that stood in a line, towering over her.

I noticed Edward wasn't with the others. For once he hadn't lied to Bella.

We waited anxiously for the two vampires to return, the pack still keeping their thoughts quiet. Well, except for Seth. He couldn't stop thinking about hot dogs. God, he could be annoying sometimes.

The doctor came into sight in a few minutes, and announced that he had been able to persuade the nomad to leave town before eating, and that Forks and La Push were safe.

We turned around to leave, and I ran back as fast as I could. How anticlimactic.

_Wait, Jake!_ Embry called to me.

_I don't have time for waiting._ I ran faster.

_Who the hell do you think you are? I was having a great day until you waltzed in here acting all tortured and pushing it off on the rest of us like—_

I transformed. I couldn't stand listening to Leah for one more second. She obviously was still unhappy with me from our last confrontation…

Whatever. I had bigger things to worry about.

**Bella's POV**

Kaia turned to me immediately after Jake left the room. "I was wondering if he'd ever leave us alone."

She tried to sit up, coughing and I rushed to help her. She settled in and took my hand like she had been holding Jacob's. Her face was more serious than I'd ever seen it.

"I know you will, but I just need to hear you say something. Jake has been everything to me in the past few weeks. He's the first real friend I ever had, he helped me with the loss of my dad and brother, and he loved me like nobody ever had. I know that I've been special to him, I mean, I had to be with this whole imprinting thing, but I have to leave soon. Just promise me that when I'm gone you'll take care of him the best you can. Don't let him lose himself, and always be there for him. Can you do that?"

"Of course," I swallowed the lump in my throat. She saw my eyes welling up with tears, and smiled gently.

"Don't cry, please." She closed her eyes

"I'm sorry. I wanted to ask you about something too."

Her eyes opened slowly. "Anything."

"How could you give Jake up so easily? You don't know what you're missing. Imprinting is stronger than love. You'd be the luckiest girl on the planet."

"Because I'm dying, Bella," she said it like it was the most obvious statement ever.

"But if you weren't, what would you do?"

She thought for a moment. "I wouldn't do anything differently. He belongs with you. Don't you see the way he feels better when he looks at you? How when you talk to him when you think I'm asleep, his walls come down and he actually believes in something for a moment? He needs you. That's why I would give him up."

"Are you sure you're only 12?" I looked at her, astounded yet again. "It's just that Jake and I haven't really had a chance to talk, and I don't know how he's going to respond to me after…"

"Don't worry, Bella. He understands you now. Just like you loved two people, he loves two people. I know it's different with me, but the fact that you chose him is significant." She was overcome with a coughing fit. I handed her a glass of water and she gladly took a sip. She handed it back with a shiver.

"Are you all right?" I asked her. She looked pale, and the temperature of her hand told me she had a fever.

"It's just a little cold, that's all." I wrapped another blanket around her. "You're the only real girlfriend I've ever had. Thank you." I noticed tears in her eyes for the first time ever.

The front door slammed. "Jake's back," I told her.

"Don't let him in!"

I ran to the bedroom door just as Jacob was getting there. "You can't come in. She's…uh…changing. I'll come get you in a minute."

He looked extremely confused, but stayed in the hall.

I went back over to Kaia and hugged her. "What's wrong?"

"I can't let him see me cry. He'll think I'm weak," she admitted, wiping her cheeks.

I shook my head. "That's the last thing he'd think. We think you are so brave and strong, you deserve to be afraid."

"I'm not afraid for me," she said quietly. She coughed again and leaned back, groaning. "It won't be long, now."

I handed her a tissue to blow her nose, and went back to let Jacob in. Kaia's mother came in as well, and sat on the other side of Kaia's bed, looking miserable.

Jake wrapped his hand around my waist and his hot hand found the skin that showed by my right hip. He leaned down to my ear and whispered, "it was just a nomad passing through. You're safe." His warm lips and breath brushing against my ear made me shiver.

"Jacob, why aren't you wearing a shirt?" Naomi asked.

I almost laughed, and then bent down by the head of the bed and pulled a t-shirt out of a bag of Jake's things I had gathered from Billy.

He gave me a look of thanks and turned back to Kaia, who had fallen asleep. I looked at the clock and said, "I should be going. I have to work in the morning."

"See ya, Bells," Jake said.

* * *

Mrs. Newton came up to me while I was checking out a couple hikers at work the next afternoon and said, "Bella, there's someone on the phone for you." My stomach dropped.

I finished the transaction and rushed to the back. Nobody ever called me at work. Something must have been wrong.

"Hello?" I asked, my voice shaking.

"Get over here as soon as you can." Jacob's voice commanded. He hung up.

My heart was banging against my ribcage. Mrs. Newton came up to me with concern on her face. "Bella, your face is white as a ghost! Are you okay? Do you need to leave?"

I nodded and sprinted out the door. I was trying to prepare for the worst, but didn't quite know how. Jake was going to be unbearable. Losing his imprint…I couldn't imagine. I stepped on the gas.

I ran into the house, and every muscle in my body relaxed when I saw the scene the same as I had left it last night. It even might have been the same song playing on the radio. Kaia's face was covered in a sheen of sweat, though, and she looked even more pale than before.

Naomi was reading a letter to her, and Kaia could have been sleeping if it weren't for her smile. I stood in the hallway and listened.

"Dear Kaia,

"Thanks so much for bringing Charles the stuffed rabbit when you came to visit me last time. He's my best friend. Mom said you won't be coming back. I hope you like it in Heaven. I got to meet Michael Jordan, so that means I'm going to Heaven soon too. I hope I'll see you there. I'll bring Charles just in case. Thank you for what you've done for me. I got to meet Michael, so I hope you get your dance so we're both happy.

Love,

Luke, Age 7."

"Bella, come in," Kaia whispered.

I did as she said, standing behind Jake and putting my hands on his shoulders. "Who's Luke?" I asked.

"He's one of the boys from the children's hospital Kaia's been visiting for the past few years. He really took a liking to her."

"What did he mean 'I hope you get your dance?'" Jacob asked, his voice sounding dead.

Her pallid skin flushed. "We talked about things we wanted to do before we died. He told me he wanted to meet Michael Jordan, and I told him I wanted to have a slow dance. I was always too sick to go to school dances, and still, nobody would have wanted to dance with me," she explained.

Jacob wasted no time standing up and scooping her up in his arms swiftly.

The look on her face was priceless. He twirled her around in his arms to the song on the radio. I felt like an intruder watching, but I couldn't look away and it made me tear up. Of course Jake would give her anything she wanted in a heartbeat. Even death. So as he set her back down when the song ended, it made sense to me for the first time why he would sit here and subject himself to such torture.

"Why don't you try to sleep?" he asked her, tucking the blankets around her again.

She nodded contentedly. "I love you all."

"We love you too," Jake told her.

She fell asleep almost as soon as her eyes closed.

Naomi was crying softly at her side and Jake was staring intently into her face while I was doing the same into his when we heard the sound. The sound of nothing. Her breathing had stopped. It was over.

It was surreal for a moment. Nobody moved, nobody spoke. Then Naomi broke into sobs, and Jake buried his head in the blankets on her bed.

"NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!" He yelled as his body shook dangerously. I grabbed his hand tightly and whispered, "Jake. Look at me."

He let out another scream, and I took a step back. "Jacob. Be careful. Look at me," I repeated.

He reluctantly turned his head toward me. "No, no, no…" he repeated, looking horrified.

"Come on. Let's get you home."

He didn't take his eyes off my face as he stood up and walked backward out of the room. Then he ran.


	8. She Is Love

**Almost twice as long as usual in only a little over a week! Expect me to be MIA over the next week, because I have finals. Actually, I won't say that, because I usually do my best work when I'm supposed to be studying... I promise this will be the last sad chapter for a while. Oh, and thank you to all of my reviewers for the last chapter :) I hope if you celebrate Hanukkah you had a great time, and if you celebrate Christmas, I hope you have your Christmas shopping done! Enjoy!  
**

**Chapter 8**

**She Is Love**

My mind was numb as I took one look at Kaia's mom, who I didn't want to leave alone at a time like this, but she nodded and said, "go." I grabbed Kaia's hand one last time, and left.

I started my truck and started driving. Jake could be anywhere by now. He could be in the middle of the forest, for all I knew. I'd try Billy's first. Maybe he'd know something.

Billy greeted me at the door. "I'm glad you're here. He raged in a few minutes ago and won't speak to me. He's in his room."

"Thanks," I braced myself for the pain I was going to feel for Jacob in a few seconds. I hadn't really had time to think this through, and I suddenly became nervous. I wasn't sure I could be what he needed, and I wasn't even sure what he needed. I had tried to be supportive while Kaia was alive, but the truth was that his powerful attachment to her made me jealous, even if she was only 12. The truth was that I wanted to be more than his friend, I wanted to be his girlfriend, his lover, his confidant…but he surely wasn't even thinking about that at a time like this. I pushed his door open and saw him standing in the middle of the room.

"Jake?" I whispered. I did not expect what happened next.

The room wasn't large, but he eliminated the space between us in less than a second, pressing his body hard against mine and lifting me off the floor, kissing me with all the ferocity he possessed. I sat in surprise for a moment, because his actions were so angry, but then I kissed him back just as angrily. I was angry for all the same reasons as Jake, and then completely different reasons. I was angry that death had taken the purest heart I had ever known much too prematurely, but I was also angry that Jake's imprinting on her would make unable to ever fully love me because part of his heart would always dwell on her. I grabbed his hair with my fingers and his hands frantically explored my back, gripping my shirt. I had never been so physically close to him, and it shocked me the way the heat flowed from him straight through my body. I held him tighter, even though I already could barely breathe, and savored the taste of his lips and tongue. His lips were furious as they fought against mine as fiercely as they could. I groaned when he pulled away from my mouth, and our wild eyes met. He kissed down my neck, leaving me out of breath not because he was holding me too tightly. Without warning, His body started trembling and I heard a ripping sound as he tore the back of my shirt. "Whoa, Jake," I breathed.

He stopped, keeping his lips where they were resting on my chest. I knew he could hear and feel my heart beating erratically. With ragged breathing he said, "But I need you." He took two deep breaths and his shaking slowed.

My body didn't want to deny him, but my mind knew was telling me that this was some strange reaction to his grief. "Not like this. Not when you could think something different tomorrow."

He raised his head to look at me, grabbed my face and whispered so intensely that I almost laughed, "I won't."

"How can you be sure of that? We're both vulnerable right now."

"I'm not really sure of a whole lot, but the one thing that I will always be sure of is that I love you."

His shaking had completely stopped and turned into crying. He threw himself face-down on his bed, burying his head in the pillows.

I sat on the edge of the bed, running my fingers through his hair until he looked up at me. His eyes were filled with tears and it stabbed me in the gut. Seeing Jacob cry was a rarity, and it took a toll on me. My sun was burning out before my eyes.

"Everything will be okay," I told him.

"I know it will," he spat, punching the mattress. "That's why I'm so disgusted with myself."

This conversation was taking an unexpected turn. I was so confused. "What are you talking about?"

He hesitated for so long I thought he hadn't heard me. When he spoke it was soft and controlled. "Nothing. Just that I couldn't save her like I was supposed to."

"Jake, you did everything you could for her with the choice she made. You can't feel bad about it..." I stopped talking because he was glaring at me. The look hurt me not only because I felt like he didn't want me, but because it was killing me not to know how he was really feeling. I took a dignified step away and said, "Okay. I'll be getting back to Charlie now—" I cut off when he grabbed my hand.

"No," he said in a voice I'd never heard before. It was full of pain, sadness, and something I couldn't put my finger on that wasn't so grim. "Don't leave me alone."

I couldn't keep up with his constant mood swings, but his face was so heartbreaking that it didn't take me more than a second to comply. I crawled up on the bed by him and he scooted over so that I could lie next to him. He gratefully welcomed the arms I circled around him and we looked deep into each others' eyes until his closed and he fell into a deep sleep.

I woke up a few hours later, burning up. I tried to sit up, but was restrained. Before I could freak out, I remembered the reason I couldn't move and the reason I was so hot was because Jacob had his arms wrapped around me, and I sighed. I didn't know whether to be happy or sad. Waking up next to him was something I wanted to do every day for the rest of my life, but I knew realistically that Jacob would never be the same after losing his imprint, and chances that we could have a happy life together were slim. I studied Jake's face as he slept. It was so peaceful, but I knew that would only last through his nap, because it was the opposite of what he was feeling. I wanted to give him time, but we really needed to talk. I had to know what was going on in his head, and tell him what I was thinking too. Or at least, tell him I was too confused to think. When Kaia called me that day, I knew Jake was going to need me to get through this, but I hadn't really thought past that. Now, after seeing their connection and his anguish at losing her, I was sure we could never be. But the way he assaulted me when I came in the room earlier…I had no idea what was going on. I went back to studying his face. His long, dark eyelashes lay in perfect semicircles on his cheeks…the structure of his jaw was so chiseled, but obscured with quite a bit of stubble since he had neglected to shave for the past few days…his full lips were so smooth and I remembered how they felt against my neck…Jacob stirred, and I realized I had unconsciously been brushing my fingertips against his lips.

He looked up at me with an unreadable expression.

"I'm sorry, Jake. Go back to sleep." I apologized.

He grinned. "I can't."

"How are you? Are you okay?"

He nuzzled his face into my neck. "I have to be. I just woke up with the most beautiful girl in the world in my arms."

I blushed, but said, "Jacob Black! Your mood swings are killing me! We need to talk about this."

He closed his eyes and took a stabilizing breath. "I know."

I sat up cross-legged next to him, and he pushed himself up so he was leaning against the headboard.

"Bells, this is tearing me up inside," he said, his face full of sorrow. "I don't know what I should be feeling, because everything I feel seems wrong."

"Well what are you feeling?"

"Sadness for Kaia. Love for you. Disgust for myself. Fear of forgetting."

"I told you yesterday, you can't feel angry with yourself for not being able to help her. You did everything you could, and she loved you so much for it."

"It's not what you think," he fidgeted.

"What do you mean?"

"I can't…I don't want to tell you."

I was beginning to be worried. What was so bad that he didn't want to talk to me about it? "You can tell me anything."

"I'm just so confused. It's so awful."

I stood up by his side, because I was overheating being next to him. My heart was pumping at a million miles an hour.

"What's wrong, Bells? Tell me how you're feeling."

"I'm sad for Kaia. Sad for you. Worried that…that things can never be normal between us, that the way you feel about me will always be a shadow of what you could have felt if you never imprinted on Kaia."

He closed his eyes and looked like he was in physical pain. "Bella…I guess I have to tell you. I can't have you feeling like that…" He looked so conflicted, my heart went out to him.

"It's terrible. I didn't even know it was possible…"

I waited for him to continue. He had me under a really powerful gaze, and it made me blush a bit.

"I feel awful for what I'm doing. I feel like I'm disgracing Kaia's memory, but it's making everything better. Such a contradiction."

He took my hands with a strange expression on his face. I had no idea what he was about to tell me, but my heart was about to explode in anticipation.

"When Kaia died, I was so grief-stricken I thought I was going to die too. I wanted to die, I had no reason to live anymore. Then something changed. I was still devastated about losing her, but I didn't want to die anymore. I had a new reason for living...I imprinted again."

I was pretty sure I was going to die there in that moment. It felt like a giant hand was squeezing my heart in my chest. There were so many emotions coursing through my body. I finally understood his mood swings, because he was destroyed at losing Kaia, but he had a new imprint to make him happy. I was also pissed off at the way Jake had been treating me. How dare he be kissing me, calling me beautiful, and telling me he loved me when he had imprinted on someone else? And most of all, I felt disappointment at the realization that Jacob and I must have never been meant to be in the first place, since this was twice in a row that fate had tried to tell us we didn't belong together.

"Bells? Breathe."

I took in a shuddering breath, and realized my brain was starved for oxygen. I couldn't bring myself to look up from the floor.

"I'm sorry. I told you it was awful. Say something. Please."

"Oh," was all I said.

"I was shocked too. It had never crossed my mind as a possibility. I mean, it's never happened before in our history. This is why I feel like shit. I don't want to forget how much I cared for Kaia, but now that I've imprinted again, all I can feel is overwhelming love."

He waited for me to speak. "Is she nice?" I mumbled apathetically, still looking at the floor.

"Absolutely selfless." He spoke adoringly.

"Is she pretty?" I asked, not knowing why I was doing this to myself.

"Extraordinarily gorgeous."

"Is she good for you?" I cringed, not wanting to hear the answer.

"Unbelievably perfect for me." I could feel his eyes on me.

I looked up at him warily. "What's her name?"

A smile tugged at his lips. "Isabella Swan."

I swear my jaw dropped all the way to the ground. I stared at him with a shocked expression on my face for a good minute before he spoke. He didn't move from his spot on his bed, but reached a hand out to me, which I was too stunned to take.

"You…can't…be…serious…" I finally said excruciatingly slowly, since I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me.

"It's you this time, Bells. Finally, the way things are supposed to be. Are you not happy?" His face fell at my lack of reaction.

I still couldn't move a muscle, and he continued to stare at me. "You're killing me here," he said.

Suddenly, something broke loose in me and I exploded. My mind cleared of shock and I became overwhelmingly overjoyed. I took a standing leap onto Jacob's lap and threw my arms around his neck. I could feel him laughing beneath me as I covered his face in kisses.

Then, just as suddenly as my euphoria came, it left. I slumped in Jacob's strong arms, and he looked at me worriedly.

"Who's the moody one now?" he joked.

"I get it now, how you feel. Am I allowed to be happy at a time like this?"

"Doesn't it suck? I feel guilty for loving you," he growled.

"I think you should know something," I told him. Kaia didn't want him to feel that way, and I certainly didn't, so I knew it was okay to share our conversation. "Kaia and I had a talk yesterday while you were out. She asked me to make sure you were okay when she was gone. She wanted _me_ to make you happy. She wanted me to love you. And she wanted you to love me. You feel like this because you lost your imprint. But you shouldn't feel bad for loving me, because it's what she asked for."

He looked like a 500 pound weight had been lifted off of him. He was staring at me in wonder. "Do you think she knew?"

"What? That you'd imprint on me? Not necessarily, but I think she knew that there was something unnatural about the way we are connected."

There was a knock on the door and I scrambled off his lap just as Billy came in.

"How is everything?" he asked.

"As good as it can be," Jake answered, taking my hand. Billy smiled knowingly, but he wouldn't truly understand until Jacob explained that he'd imprinted again.

Billy looked at me and said, "Charlie called a bit ago. He was just wondering where you were."

"Oh," I stood up, fixing my hair. "I better get home then."

"Don't go," Jake pleaded.

"Well, Sue Clearwater invited us over for dinner, Bella's welcome to come," Billy offered.

I sighed. "That's probably not the best idea right now," I said, knowing that the benefits of me being there with Jake would be far outweighed by the hatred I would have to endure from Leah.

Jake pulled me into a hug before I left, and I whispered in his ear, "tonight, come to my room after Charlie's asleep." My words had an underlying implication I hadn't initially intended, but it sent a shiver through him, in turn making me giddy.

* * *

Charlie was there to greet me when I got home. He immediately looked concerned when he saw me. I knew I looked exhausted and emotional, but I didn't think I looked so bad it deserved an actual hug from Charlie.

I felt bad for having neglected him these past weeks, and I apologized, immediately starting dinner.

"Bells, don't worry about that. I've been fending for myself pretty well lately. Plus, when you go off to college soon, I'll have to do it all the time."

_College_. The word hit me like I hadn't expected. I had been so out of touch with reality since the fight with the newborns…college had never really been in the plans for me, but now…I refused to think about it.

"I still can't believe you want to go to Alaska. How is Edward, anyway?"

I cringed. It still made me sad to think about the breakup. "Edward and I are not together anymore."

Charlie's eyes lit up, then he tried to hide it by turning away. "Oh, uh…and how is Jacob doing?" he tried to be nonchalant.

"Jacob and I are—"

"Just friends. I know. If I've heard it once, I've heard it a million times."

I smirked at his silent hopefulness. "Actually, I was going to say that Jacob and I are working things out."

Charlie kept a straight face, but I could hear the excitement in his response of "Oh."

I was surprised Billy hadn't called yet to gossip.

While Charlie and I ate dinner, I tried to keep the conversation off of anything to do with Jacob, Edward, and especially college.

As soon as I was finished washing the dishes, I excused myself to my room for the night. I was a mess of nervousness, excitement, and relief. I didn't know what to expect tonight, but I knew that I felt a physical need for him I'd never felt before. With Edward, I had always wanted to go beyond our careful kisses, but I knew it was a moot point. With Jacob, even though we'd only shared a few intimate moments, there was a fire in my body that burned for him. It was the first time we would be free to be together without the limitations of Edward, Kaia, and our own grief and stupidity. I paced the floor, trying not to expect anything, but becoming more and more anxious by the second. We just needed to be together, our love for each other finally unbound by prior obligations. I wondered if he would stay the night. I hoped he would. The only time we'd ever spent an entire night together was in that tent…I remembered Edward saying something about Jake keeping his thoughts to himself, and it made me blush.

"Why are you blushing?" I jumped a mile. I hadn't heard Jacob come in, but he caught me out of the air, spun me around, and smiled hugely at me.

"Hello, gorgeous."

"Hi." Just hearing him say that took my breath away. That and seeing his shirtless torso. "How was dinner at the Clearwater's?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary. Seth being overeager and Leah being bitchy. But I didn't come here to talk about them."

"Why did you come here, then?" I asked, swooning in his arms.

"To be with my amazing girl."

"Your girl?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Is that not what you want?" He looked worried. "We don't have to go there just yet."

"Of course that's what I want, Jake." His lips were centimeters from mine and I inhaled his scent, closing my eyes. I felt his lips press gently against mine, hotter than I remembered. I kissed him slowly and softly, and it was full of love. His fingers massaged my scalp while mine traced lines on his back. He broke away to kiss my neck, and I whispered, "I love you," which only increased our passion exponentially. There was a new fire in Jake as he held me tighter, kissed me harder, and his heart thumped faster. This was all a new experience for me as I did things I'd never been able to do with Edward, like nibbling on Jake's bottom lip, and running my hands along his muscled back and stomach. His fingers found the hole he had created in my shirt earlier, and his scorching skin on mine sent a chill through me. This response must have been what he wanted, because he effortlessly carried me to the bed and lay me down. Then, watching my reaction, he slowly pulled my shirt off, leaving me more exposed than I'd ever been to a boyfriend, in only my bra. I blushed so deeply that it reached my chest, but his adoring gaze made me absolutely comfortable in my own skin, something I'd never really experienced before. His eyes devoured me hungrily as he lay down next to me, and pressed our bodies together as he resumed kissing me. I felt a heat that had nothing to do with embarrassment spreading through my body. He was running his hands over my stomach like he would never get another chance to touch me. His hand cupped my breast, caressing it through my bra, and I gasped at the unfamiliar touch. He was reaching around me to unclasp the fabric standing in our way when there was a knock on my door.

"Oh! Hold on! I'm…changing!" I called, flushing bright red as I flew off the bed, throwing on a tank top and some sleep shorts. I turned around, wondering where I could tell Jacob to hide, but he was nowhere in sight.

I opened the door to Charlie slowly, knowing my face was still red. I hoped he would attribute it to being interrupted while I changed.

"I just wanted to let you know I have to go in to the station for a few hours. There was a robbery at the grocery store in town. I'll see you tomorrow, kid."

"Okay. Have a good night." I shut the door quickly. I heard Jacob's soft chuckle and turned around to see him sitting on my bed.

"That was close," he said.

"Where did you go?" I asked, knowing he was laughing at me because my face was still beet red.

"I just dangled from the windowsill for a minute."

This made me laugh, and I almost forgot about my mortification. We didn't return to our previous activities, but Jake promised me he would stay, and he held me while we fell asleep.

* * *

Kaia's funeral was beautiful. Nobody wore black, instead, they wore white, to honor the angel she always was, but had now truly become. A girl from the children's hospital Kaia volunteered at sang a magnificent song, and one of the nurses from the hospital brought a collage of cards the kids had written to her. Jacob gave a speech that left me crying uncontrollably, about how amazing Kaia was, what she had taught him, and how she had led him to be the man he wanted to be, and to have the life he wanted to live.

We didn't stay long, since we didn't know most of her family and friends, and when we returned to La Push, Jake and I just lounged on the couch, watching a movie, and wallowing in our sadness.

"I'm glad that through all of this I have you," Jake whispered in my ear.

"There's nowhere else I would rather be," I smiled.

"I guess things are going to go back to normal now, huh? I mean, through the fight, being hurt, then meeting Kaia, and now this? It's like I put my life on hold for the last month."

"I know…Charlie mentioned college to me yesterday and it took me by surprise. We're going to have to go back to the real world," I sighed.

Suddenly, he jumped up, pulling me to my feet. He tossed me my sandals from by the door with a huge grin on his face. "Everything in our life has been too serious lately. Before we start thinking about things like that, I think it's time for us to have some fun."

* * *

**So I know it's kind of far-fetched, but it's never happened before, so no hating :) **

**Thanks for reading and reviewing!  
**


	9. Here In Your Arms

**Hello there! I know, I know, it's been a while. I had to get through the holidays and a lot of other things pertaining to my future before I could focus on writing again. But I hope you all had a great Christmas and are having a wonderful new year! I want to preface this chapter with an apology about the lack of lemons…I realize I kind of dangled it in front of you last chapter then disappointed this time, but I PROMISE you will not be unhappy come chapter 10. **

**Also, I thought I should point out that since tomorrow is my birthday you should leave lots of kind reviews!**

**Oh. I promise this is the last thing. Did anyone see Rob, Kristen and Taylor at the People's Choice Awards last night? Stunning!**

**Okay. Enjoy. **

_**Affinity**_

**Chapter 9**

**Here (In Your Arms)**

Jacob's idea of fun was to take me out on our bikes. He was right. It was our first non-life-or-death moment together, and now that I could ride well enough that I didn't acquire serious injury every time I got on, it was really liberating.

When we got back, we called Charlie and asked him to come down to La Push for dinner. We ordered pizza and there was a Mariners game on, so he wasn't hard to convince.

Charlie kept eying me and Jake while we ate, and was clearly elated by our close proximity and apparent relationship status, but frowned when Jake's casual touches turned slightly more romantic. I'd have to remind him to lay off bothering me about the physical stuff. Although, that had been a lot easier with Edward since all I ever had were kisses with a promise of attempting more. With Jake, I didn't know what I'd be able to honestly tell my dad, since we apparently weren't stopping at kissing.

That thought got me thinking about last night, and left me wondering when we'd get another chance to be alone like that. Jake was planning on picking up a lot of work with the pack since he'd been so absent lately, so that limited our nights, but maybe when Charlie was at work...

"Whatcha thinking about, Bells?" he asked me.

I blushed, and finished up my slice of pizza. I noticed Charlie glancing at the TV anxiously, so I said, "go ahead and turn on the game. Jake and I will be…" I looked at him for help.

He didn't miss a heartbeat. "We'll be out in the garage."

As soon as we got out the door, Jacob knocked my legs out from under me and picked me up, running to the garage.

"In a hurry are we?" I asked, blushing from the surprise.

"No, I just like to touch you," he grinned, pinching my ass. "Inappropriate!" I shrieked, swatting his hand away. I sat down on a stool and Jake turned on the radio. He found something he liked and spun around, locking eyes with me. He started to dance to the quick beat of the music, which made me laugh at first. But as I watched, I realized that Jacob was a good dancer. And it was extremely sexy. I watched as his strong muscles contracted and relaxed under the thin cotton of his shirt, and bit my lip.

"Enjoying the show?" He broke my concentration.

"Where did you learn to dance like that?"

"It's natural talent, baby," he winked. I rolled my eyes.

"So come on, Bells, whatcha got? Show me your best move."

I shook my head adamantly, already blushing just thinking about it.

"Bella," he whined, elongating the 'a.'

"Please? Would I laugh at you?"

"Yes," I grumbled. But, as always, Jake's ability to make me do things I would never do otherwise kicked in, and before I could stop myself, I was standing in front of him.

"Blow me away," he crossed his arms.

I took a deep breath, and did the lawn mower.

If I hadn't been doing something embarrassing, I would have thought Jacob had sustained serious injury by the way he was rolling around on the floor, silently shaking with tears rolling down his face.

I immediately stopped, dropped to my knees, straddled his waist, and started (lightly—I remembered the last time all too clearly) punching his chest.

"I—" punch "knew—" punch "you—" punch "would—" punch "laugh—" punch "at—" punch "me." (Punch).

"I'm…sorry!" he gasped between laughs. He took a few deep breaths, and steadied himself as I glared at him. "I'm sorry. Really. It's just that was so…pathetic!" he broke into laughter again.

I started to roll off of him, but he gripped around my waist and kept me held tightly to him.

"I will never make fun of your dancing again," he swore solemnly, blinking the tears from his eyes.

"I will never dance in front of you again," I growled.

"Aww, come on," he pleaded, pulling my head to his, forcing me to kiss him. Well, _forcing_ may be the wrong term. As always, my heart sped up and I eagerly tried for more. Even though I had kissed Jacob plenty of times now, it was always pleasant to realize I wasn't going to be met with resistance. I was lost in these thoughts and his lips when I heard a throat clear behind us.

I froze, my face blushing so deeply I'm sure it was purple. When my brain caught up with my body, I threw myself off Jake, causing me to crack my head on the cement.

"Oh my God, are you okay?" Jacob asked, clearly not too concerned, because he was laughing even harder than before. It took him a second to calm down enough so he could speak. "It's only Sam. Oh Bells, you kill me." He jumped up and held out his hand to help me up too. "Ow," I rubbed the back of my head.

"Hi," I said to him shyly. I still wasn't sure where we stood, and I apparently felt the need to create a freshly awkward atmosphere.

"Hi Bella," he smiled slightly. "Jacob, we need to talk."

"I know. I'll come by after she leaves."

"No, no!" I protested. "I'll go in and watch the game with Charlie and Billy for a bit. I want a glass of water anyway."

"Okay. See you in a few minutes." He squeezed my hand before I walked away.

I looked back at the garage before I entered the house, and saw Jake watching after me. It made me smile, knowing that he cared so much.

I went into the living room and found a very guilty looking Charlie, who was holding a spoon and carton of ice cream. I pretended not to notice.

"Everything all right out there? Where's Jake?" He asked me, trying to hide the ice cream.

"His friend Sam stopped by and wanted to talk."

Charlie was grumbling something about leaving me on my own, but it was easy not to pay attention, because Billy spoke to me then.

"Bella, will you come with me for a minute? I want to show you something I got for Jacob."

I nodded and followed him down the hall to his bedroom. He shut the door behind us, and turned to look at me with that majesty that always made me respect him so deeply.

I thought I knew the real reason he pulled me away from Charlie—he wanted to talk. I was right.

"Is Jacob all right?" he asked me. "He seems okay, but with everything that happened with Kaia, granted, I only know the basics, I wonder if it's just a show he puts on for everyone."

"He hasn't told you anything?" I was a little shocked. Jake and Billy were close, and Billy was one of the only people Jacob could tell everything. "Well, you're in for a surprise," I laughed.

"Am I going to like this surprise?" He let out an uncertain chuckle.

"Do you like me?"

"Of course. But what do you have to do with it?"

"Jake kind of…" I drew out the 'f', "imprinted on me."

It took him a second to reply. "But…no! It's not possible...Is it?"

"That's exactly what we said. Turns out it is."

The shock slowly faded from his face, and he unexpectedly pulled me into a hug.

"I knew something was going on. I'm so glad it's you…welcome to the family!"

Jacob opened the door at that moment, to see me hugging his father.

"Whoa," he said, looking confused.

"We just had a little chat about you," his dad told him.

"Did Bella tell you everything?" he looked like he wasn't sure whether or not he'd be happy with the outcome.

"She told me enough." He was still beaming. It kind of embarrassed me that Billy was so happy that Jake imprinted on me. But then, what didn't?

"Well, speaking of chats, we need to have one of our own," Jacob said. He grabbed my hand and pulled me across the hall toward his bedroom. I saw Charlie peeking around the corner, glaring at us, but Billy said, "Oh, relax, you old tightwad."

Jake settled down on his bed, so I followed suit.

"What did Sam want?"

"To find out what's been going on, to talk about pack stuff, and some other things."

"Like what?" I asked curiously.

"You didn't tell me you and Sam had a disagreement." He wasn't accusing, only looking for more information.

I felt bad anyway. I looked down at my hands as I spoke. "I'm really sorry I forgot, Jake. I was going to, and then everything was just so intense and happened so fast for a while…But I guess it doesn't matter now. Is he still upset with me? What did he say when you told him?"

"He's not mad. He understands. He was happy for us. He said he'd keep it quiet until I was ready to tell the rest of the guys. But since we're meeting tonight as wolves, I guess I don't have much of a choice. And I don't blame you for not telling me about you and Sam. With the state I was in, I probably would have gone after his head. But we really have to talk, Bells. And it goes back to what you just said. Everything happened so fast that a lot of things fell through the cracks."

"Well, let's get it all out now. Where do we even start?"

"Let's go back to the beginning. You decided to leave him for me. Don't get me wrong, I believe that was the best decision you'll ever make in your life—"

"Don't be a sore winner, Jacob."

"—and I know you love me, so I'm not questioning that, but I know how it is with him too. You can't expect me to think that you just forgot all of the love you had for him and that he'll stay out of our lives forever." He looked so sad thinking about the opportunity.

"Of course not. I'm never going to forget it, because he was the first person I ever loved. But ever since I decided on you, my love for you is growing stronger and stronger, and my love for him is turning more and more platonic every day." I looked deeply into his eyes, which sent a chill through me. When I spoke to Jacob, I always felt as though he was listening to everything I didn't say. "I could give you a thousand reasons why I chose you, Jake, after the fact. But the truth is, my heart chose you without me even knowing, kind of like fate chose me for you. Because it was meant to be. We can't expect that Edward won't ever come back—his family lives here for the time being. But it won't affect us. If there's one thing you'll never have to doubt, it's that I love you." But anyway, I thought we said we were going to forget the serious stuff for a while." I scooted over so my face was inches from his.

He leaned in and I stretched to bring my lips to his, but his hands were pushing against my shoulders, keeping me so close I could taste his breath.

"There are things we can't put off any longer," he smiled, giving me an unbearably chaste kiss—so chaste it reminded me of Edward—and laid back against his headboard, pulling my feet into his hands and massaging them. Being physically pampered wasn't something I was used to, but I relaxed back, enjoying it, and submitting to the idea that we would have to continue our talk.

"What's next on the agenda?"

"You pick. School or the legion of soulless creatures who want your head on a plate?"

I groaned. "None of the above?"

"It's not going to go away if you ignore it, Bella," he said knowingly.

"Yes, mother."

He chuckled. "As far as you know, Alice hasn't seen those nasty bloodsuckers coming, has she?"

"Oh, why yes. It must have slipped my mind. I've just been lounging around, without a care in the world because I know that even if they did show up, I could take them out single-handedly."

He ignored me. "Sam set up a meeting with the Cullens for tomorrow. We're going to discuss a strategy for either stopping them from coming here, or protecting you if they do."

"No need to sound so solemn and alpha-y."

He laughed, but said, "your mortal peril is not a laughing matter. And excuse the alpha-y…ness…but Sam has been treating me like an equal, including me in his decisions, running his plans by me first, that sort of thing. But more about that later. Next topic. We are breezing right through this. My girl knows how to get down to business."

I wiggled my eyebrows, then laughed wryly. "Don't tell me. We have to talk about college next."

"Not just that. My schooling too."

"What do you mean? You're not thinking about dropping out?" Jake was really smart, and I definitely couldn't let that happen. My brain had already started to formulate a plan to force him to continue his education when he responded.

"Well, the thought crossed my mind, but of course not. All of us in the pack have to miss a lot of school whenever something is going on, and Sam and I don't feel the younger kids should have to do that. But then I look at Sam, who never went to college because of the pack, and I don't want that to be me. So I really want to finish my last year of high school…but I want to be close to where you are." He actually looked timid for once in his life.

"I would love that, but that's if I can even go to college this year."

"Why do you say that?" He had started to massage my calves now.

"I already sent in my deposit to the University of Alaska, Southeast, and I'm not sure I can get it back. That was most of my money. And getting into a college this late will be tricky."

"We'll just have to make some calls tomorrow." I wasn't sure if he meant to have that effect, but the way he said it made me believe that by making those calls, everything would turn out fine.

It was my turn to be timid now. "If it all works out, I can go somewhere close by and you can stay in your school, and be close to both me and the pack."

"Ah, the pack. That's the other thing we need to discuss. Sam brought up an interesting thought earlier. He thinks if I want to try, I could stop phasing." He held his breath while he waited for my response.

I was dumbfounded. "He thinks that? I thought this was something that would be around for a while."

"Me too. Since I was able to stay human while the whole thing with Kaia was going on, and I've always been the most in control of my phasing, he thinks it's possible."

"Do you want to?"

The smile he wore wasn't exactly happy. "Yes and no. I could be normal for once, not having to worry about getting too mad in case I exploded into a furry beast. But then, it seems so selfish to leave the pack, especially Sam who hasn't had a chance to live his own life yet." He looked at me curiously. "Do _you_ want me to?"

"Yes and no. I could have you all to myself, not pack responsibilities to worry about, but that's selfish. A wolf is part of who you are, Jacob. The warmth, the complexity, the protection. And God knows I need the protection." He pulled me to him, crushing my skull against his chest.

"This is why I love you Bells. You've always accepted me for who I am."

"I could say the same. Could you stop squashing my head?"

He let go and cradled my head instead, sighing contentedly. "We've been through a lot, haven't we?"

"We have. And I don't think it's over by any means. But at least now we have each other." I intertwined the fingers on our right hands.

"Don't you wish it could have like this earlier?" he asked, playing with a strand of my hair with his other hand.

"In a lot of ways, yes, but we wouldn't be us if we hadn't taken that journey." I was admiring his smooth, russet arms as I spoke, and couldn't stop myself from running my hands over them.

He saw the way I was eying him, and gave a sexy, guttural sound.

"God, Bells. That's a really nice idea, but I have to get to our pack meeting." He displaced me from his chest.

"Will I see you tomorrow?" I asked hopefully.

"After the meeting with the Cullens and before I have to do some work for Sam I can come over."

"I want to go to the meeting," I said, trying to sound assertive, but failing since I was so used to being denied when it came to being involved in things like this.

"Sure," he agreed without a second thought. "I'll come get you as soon as you get out of work."

"I really love you," I whispered in his ear, letting my lips linger and my fingers roam toward the strip of skin that was showing where his shirt had ridden up.

"Damn it, Bella! I really have to go!" He said through a clenched jaw.

I giggled as he jumped up from the bed, trying not to look at me. He turned quickly to kiss me, and said, "I love you, beautiful. See you tomorrow," while he walked out the door, shaking his head to try to clear it.

**Jacob's POV**

I was elated as I ran toward the edge of the forest. Bella made me the happiest man on the face of the planet. I was kind of nervous to hear everyone's reaction to the recent events in my life, though. I stripped out of my clothes and left them by a tree, and phased. I knew everyone else was already phased, because I could hear their conversations. And they were loud. I hadn't missed that.

Seth, Brady, and Collin were discussing the cute new girl at school, fighting over who would get to ask her out first.

Leah and Sam were having an awkward conversation about Emily.

Jared and Paul were trying to one-up each other with how much they ate that day.

Embry and Quil were arguing about what it was that could have possibly happened to me.

I must have been unconsciously thinking about Bella, because I heard Leah grunt, "Jacob's coming with his hopeless pining over Bella in tow."

"Shut up, Leah. Hey guys," I thought, coming into view of them.

"Hey! Jake!" Quil playfully tackled me. I _had_ missed this. We rolled around in the grass for a minute, until Sam barked, "Boys. We have business to attend to."

We straightened up, howling with laughter. Literally.

"Jacob, I believe you have news for the pack?" I admired Sam for his leadership, but felt bad that he never got to have any fun.

"Okay," I began, "so you all know that I imprinted on Kaia and that, unfortunately, she passed away a few days ago." I said this quickly, eager to get to the new information.

"And yet you feel nothing, you heartless asshole!" Leah shouted.

"Chill, Leah. This is about to blow your mind. Bella was there with me, and I looked at her and I imprinted again." I let it sink in.

It was completely silent except for Seth's "Well, shit!"

"SETH! Language!" Leah scolded. That set everyone else off, shouting over each other to be heard, and I could only make out various phrases.

"Two imprints?"

"Damn."

"Did she accept?"

"This is weird."

"No more whiney Jacob!"

"Finally. Jesus."

Everyone quieted down at the same time.

"Thanks guys. Really supportive."

"So Bella joins the family," Sam said. "Leah, I know you don't like her, but you are not to treat her poorly."

Leah ran off, thinking along the lines of "ruining my life…" and then her voice was gone.

Sam sighed. "I'll have to inform her about the meeting later."

"What meeting?" Quil asked eagerly.

"We're meeting with the Cullens tomorrow evening to discuss how to protect Bella from the Volturi. Meet here at 7."

"Sir, yes sir!" Jared joked.

Sam let out a small laugh. "Who is on patrol with Jake tonight?"

Embry raised his paw, growling. "I don't know why we still have to patrol. The leeches are gone."

"As long as vampires exist and we have people to protect, we will protect them. No more complaining."

Man, Sam was in a commanding mood tonight. "I'll see you all tomorrow." Everyone but me and Embry phased back. We took off, running around the boundaries of La Push.

"So, are you and Bella, like, together now?" he asked me.

"Yeah," I said dreamily.

"Ew, I think we're going to hate moony Jacob more than piney Jacob. Is it everything you ever wanted?" He joked.

"More than that." I couldn't help my thoughts from drifting to the other night in her bedroom.

"God, Jake. I don't need to see you undressing your girlfriend."

Oops. I'd have to work on that.

**Bella's POV**

Before work, I had a few things to do, including calling University of Alaska Southeast to see if I could get my deposit back. Little did I know, this would open up a can of worms.

"I'm sorry dear," the secretary told me, "your hold has already been withdrawn, and your money has been returned."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, it shows that happening about two weeks ago."

"Th—thank you," I stammered, hanging up.

What was going on? Maybe Edward had already switched my hold to Dartmouth. Right. Like I was about to go there without Edward influencing me and paying the establishment to keep me as a student. I called them next to remove my hold there, but again, the secretary told me they didn't have a deposit for me.

I decided to forget what had happened there, and call my other options now, Peninsula College, Washington State University, and University of Washington—places I had already been accepted to, but denied to commit to Alaska, to see if they would let me reserve a spot this late.

I got the same answer at all 3.

"Isabella Swan? We already have a place reserved for you. We received your deposit months ago."

I hung up with the last college, and I was seething. I was pretty sure I knew who was behind this.

I picked up the phone one more time, and dialed the number I knew too well.

His velvet voice sounded surprised as he answered, "Bella?"

"Edward. Do you want to die?"

"What?" He laughed. "You're being silly."

"Am not. I could sic Jacob on you at any time. And right now, I'm considering it as a serious possibility."

"What in the world are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about your head being ripped off by my boyfriend the werewolf."

He sighed. "But why?"

"Did you remove my deposit from University of Alaska and reserve spots for me at the other colleges I applied for?"

"Oh. That."

"Yeah. That." I spat.

"Why are you so upset? Did you want to be out hundreds of dollars and not have a place to go to school?"

"But why must you meddle in all of my affairs, Cullen?"

"That hurts. Demoted from the first name basis list."

"Answer my question."

"I had to give you options. And I knew that had you picked Jacob, which, to my dismay, you did, this is what you would want."

"And you know better than I do what I want? Just because you can read other peoples' minds and tell what _they_ want does not mean the same applies to me."

"Apparently."

I waited for an apology.

"I'm sorry, Bella." He finally said.

"Suck it, Cullen." I hung up.

* * *

The most exciting thing that happened at work was Lauren Mallory from high school coming in with her new boyfriend and insisting that she was an avid camper, even though I knew she couldn't stand dirt and the outdoors.

When I got out at 6:30, I drove to the boundary as fast as I could, where Jake was waiting. I had planned to tell him all about my conversation with Edward earlier. He hopped in my truck, wrapping his arms around me and kissing my cheek while I drove.

"Miss me?" I asked, laughing. I couldn't remember that I was mad at Edward when Jake was so close.

I parked at his house, then we departed for the forest.

He held my hand as we walked, though it was awkward since he was so tall now. "You looked angry when I first got in the car. What were you upset about?"

"Oh yeah," I recalled, still not being able to be fully mad. "Want to kill Edward for me?"

His whole face perked up. "Yes!" Then his expression turned dark. "Why?"

I explained the whole situation. Jake didn't seem to think it was as upsetting as I did. "Go easy on the guy. He was just trying to do something good for you."

I stopped dead in my tracks and stared at him.

"What?" he asked. "You told me not to be a sore winner, so I'm being a diplomatic winner."

"Yeah, you can afford to say that now…"

He laughed at me until we reached the interior, and he said to me, "stay right there."

"Why?" I protested as he walked a few yards away. But I soon saw why. He started taking his clothes off.

"That is not a good way to make stay in my plaaaaace," I sang, but I turned away as he took off his shorts. His laughter turned to barks, and a gigantic wolf stood where my boyfriend had been. He loped over to me and nuzzled his huge, wet nose into my neck.

"Yuck!" I jumped. He knelt down so I could climb on his back, which I did with a bit of trouble. This was the worst idea ever. I was bound to fall off. I held on to clumps of his fur with a death grip, but I didn't need to. Jacob adjusted his body every time I started to slip, so I stayed completely balanced.

We got to the boundary, and most of the others were there already. Sam was the only member of the pack in his human form.

"Alice!" I tried to make it clear to Jacob that I wanted down, but he was conveniently ignoring my signals, so I kicked my heels into his ribs hard. He whined, but knelt down anyway. I ran across the boundary and jumped into Alice's arms. Emmett hugged me as well, but Jasper and Rosalie kept their distance, just waving, and Esme and Carlisle weren't there. To my great relief, neither was Edward. When Alice let me go, I walked back over to the Quileute side, and got back on Jake.

"We're just waiting on the Doctor and his wife to get back from hunting," Sam informed us.

Nobody spoke until we saw them nearing us. Unfortunately for me, it wasn't just Carlisle and Esme. Edward was with them.

Our eyes locked immediately and my surprised gaze turned to a glare. The meeting began, but I continued to glower at Edward, barely listening to what was going on until I heard Carlisle say, "Edward had a great idea that he wants to tell us about. Edward?"

He broke eye contact with me, and spoke. "The Volturi want to either kill Bella or see her turned immortal. Now that she has taken option 2 out of the running, they are going to kill her. I kept thinking that the best way to make them stop their pursuit would be to make them think she's already dead. Then I realized that there _is_ a way to do that. With Alice. She's seen visions of Bella doing life-threatening things, and she's seen Bella's future disappear. She could travel to Italy and tell Aro that unfortunately, Bella isn't with us anymore, and show him what she's seen."

"Wouldn't they see this conversation and know that it was all a ruse?" Sam asked.

"That's where you come in. Alice can't see anything that involves you."

"What if something goes wrong or they don't believe her?" he asked again.

"Then Alice invites them to come here to see for themselves."

"And when they see I'm still alive?" I know I sounded horrified, but I couldn't help it. Jacob made a soothing sound below me.

Edward turned his gaze back to me and I immediately narrowed my eyes. He chuckled for a second. "You will have been gone for a week visiting your mother, and we will have covered up all of your trails, leaving no evidence of you. And yes, Jacob, I do think it could work. If it doesn't, we'll be ready to fight. They'll be outnumbered. It will be easy."

"Well, I suppose it's worth a try," Sam agreed. "We'll arrange a time for Bella to leave, and decide how we're going to manage our defenses at home if it comes to that. We will be in contact."

Sam nodded at the other wolves, and they dispersed. Jacob began to run, and I kept my glare on Edward for as long as possible. When I had to tear it away from him, I sighed and grabbed on to Jacob for dear life again. I could practically feel Edward's eyes on our backs, and I heard him say in a mocking tone, "you're welcome," so I twisted my head around and yelled, "You may be smart, but I want my money back, Cullen!"


	10. Fever

**Well hello there! A few quick things before I let you get to the next chapter: **

**I reached 50 reviews before chapter 10! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to every single person who has read this story so far, I really appreciate your interest in it. **

**The next couple chapters are meant to kind of be an escape, something that should be pleasant for everyone to read and for me to write. That means we will be experiencing our first major lemons (get excited!). There's your fair warning.  
**

**Now, ENJOY! **

**_Affinity_**

**Chapter 10**

**Fever**

I'd seen Jacob every day since the meeting with the Cullens, but only for dinner with our fathers or to take a quick walk on the beach before one of us had to be somewhere. He was doing patrols every night too, so he was dead tired during the day, but when I tried to get him to nap, he refused to waste any of our time together by sleeping.

My life outside of that could be described as incredibly boring since I spent most of my free time looking into undergraduate degrees at the colleges I was considering, thinking about Jacob, and waiting for the signal to start packing for Jacksonville. To my horror, I was so bored that I found myself wishing I could go shopping with Alice. I wasn't even allowed to talk to her, however, to avoid her creating new thoughts of me. She was putting all of her energy into only thinking about me falling off of my motorcycle and disappearing, and according to Jake, she was focusing on my "death" so much she was starting to believe it was actually true.

I'd made all of the necessary preparations for my trip: calling my mom, making up some story to tell Charlie, and telling Mrs. Newton that I was going to be taking a week off soon, but that it would be on short notice.

A week later, I was cleaning the kitchen and singing to a CD that Alice had made me a while back when the doorbell rang. I was in the middle of mopping, and I was expecting Charlie's birthday present to be delivered today, so I didn't answer the door, knowing the delivery man would just leave the package at on the porch.

But in a few seconds, the door opened without my help, and my beautiful Jacob was standing there.

"Eek!" I shrieked like a little girl. I tried to sprint toward him, but forgetting the wet floor, slipped. Fortunately, he was close enough to catch me before I hit the ground.

"I didn't think you needed another head injury," he joked with me, pulling me to my feet. "What—"

I kissed him repeatedly, locking my arms around his neck. "I'm so happy to see you!"

"I should surprise you more often," he grinned, leading me to the couch. "But Bells, I don't have much time to stick around."

I groaned, tightening my hold on his neck. "Please stay, Jake. I miss you."

It was his turn to groan. "I miss you too. But guess what?"

"What?"

"You can leave for Jacksonville as soon as you're ready! Alice is prepared to go to Italy as early as a week from now, and we've got a backup plan in place." He hesitated for a moment, and I saw a tiny crack in his usually flawless self-confidence. "I want to ask…Feel free to say no if you don't want me interfering with your time with your mom, but…I want to go to Florida with you."

My heart stopped momentarily. A whole week with Jacob? Sign me up. "You do?"

He nodded, looking more confident as he saw how the idea had excited me. "Is that something you might be interested in?"

"Yes! Yes. Please. My mom will die when she meets you." I was bouncing up and down eagerly.

"I can't wait to meet her either. I'm really glad you want me to come along." He took my hands.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"I don't know," he looked away for a second. "But you can thank the Cullens for this. It was Esme's idea. She didn't want you going alone, and she was quick to offer me a ticket too."

"She's great like that."

"Okay, Bells. I have to go. But I'll see you soon." He kissed me quickly, and effortlessly removed my vice grip on his neck.

"Bye Jake," I felt the emptiness of his absence immediately. I sat around for a few minutes after he left, trying to distract myself. When I realized I was too antsy to possibly sit still for more than 30 seconds, I got up and packed, and was finished within the hour. Then I sat back on the couch, staring at (not watching) the Food Network and wishing time would speed up.

* * *

I didn't see Jake until the day we left for Florida. Charlie hadn't put up any fight at all when I told him Jacob was going with me, and he even offered to drive us to the airport. When Jake arrived at my house, I was outside loading my bags into the car. I heard a rustling noise coming from the trees, and out stepped my glorious boyfriend. I wanted to faint. Even though it had only been two days, I felt like I was seeing him for the first time.

"Careful not to drown in that puddle of drool," he joked, approaching me. He wrapped his strong arms around me and held on tight. In the embrace there were so many promises and unspoken feelings, and it made me melt.

"I'm so glad you're here," I whispered.

"Ahem," Charlie cleared his throat loudly. I let go quickly. I hadn't noticed he'd joined us. I needed to practice remembering that there was a world outside of me and Jacob.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked. We nodded and got in the cruiser.

Jake and Charlie talked about fishing, the latest trades in the NFL and other things I didn't care about the whole way to the airport. When we got there, I hugged Charlie and he said, "Have a safe trip, kid. Call me when you get in."

Finally, we were on our own. We found our terminal and took a seat on the floor since there weren't any open chairs. I took the time to really look into Jake's face, and I saw that he was desperately in need of sleep. "You're starting to look like a vampire," I told him.

"Very funny," he said, but it was stifled by a yawn. "Speaking of vampires, Esme also gave me this cell phone for us to use so we can keep up with what's going on back ho…me…" I looked from the phone to his face and he had fallen asleep leaning against the wall. I didn't dare bother him, so I pulled out a book and read while I waited for our chance to board the plane.

* * *

Jake slept the whole plane ride too, and judging by how grumpy and confused he was when we had to get off, I guessed that he had only caught up on a very small fraction of the sleep he needed.

I tried to refrain from laughing at him as he stumbled zombielike to the baggage claim, and sat down on the airport floor as I waited for our suitcases.

When they finally came around on the carousel I wrestled with mine, and by the time I set it on the floor next to me, I realized Jake's was farther away than I would have liked.

"No!" I cried, leaping in front of the man next to me (who, understandably, gave me a strange look) and landing face down, sprawled across Jake's suitcase. I struggled to get to my feet, but as I was scrambling, I felt two very warm hands grab my shoulders and pull me away from the luggage carousel, placing me on the floor. I turned around sheepishly and Jake was standing there with both suitcases in his hands.

"What am I going to do with you?" He grinned. I kept my head down so I didn't have to see the faces of the amused bystanders, and we left the airport, calling a cab to take us to our destination.

Jake grabbed all of our bags as we got out of the taxi so I was free to greet my mother, who was standing at the door already, waving excitedly.

I practically ran to the house. She hugged me tight and said, "I'm so glad to see you, baby!"

I wasn't able to say anything in response, because I was fighting back tears. I was surprised by my reaction, but I couldn't help thinking that the last time I saw her I thought it was going to be the last time ever.

Jacob knew what was going through my head, as always, and he rubbed my back as I returned to his side.

My mom was blatantly staring at Jake, so I said, "This is Jacob. Jacob, my mother."

Renee shocked him by taking him into a hug too, and she frowned. "Hi Jacob, it's so good to meet you! Oh! Do you have a fever?"

Oops. I hadn't considered that Renee might notice his unusually high temperature. But naturally, he had it under control.

"I just run a little warmer than most people. I'm always pretty hot."

She was nodding in agreement. I pinched her arm lightly, but it didn't faze her. "Bella, do any boys fall in love with you that aren't abnormally good looking?"

I groaned. "Mother!"

"Sorry," she threw up her hands in defense. "I didn't mean to imply that he was in love with you…Is he?"

I tried to fight the blush creeping onto my cheeks. "Can we at least go inside before you start the embarrassing talks?" I asked.

Renee laughed and let us in. "Phil is in the living room watching TV. I'm sorry we won't be able to do much together while you're here, because Phil can't go anywhere with his broken leg, and I have to be able to be around to take care of him, but you two can have plenty of fun together. I'm going to start dinner in a few minutes—don't look so scared, I've been taking cooking lessons—and then we can relax for the rest of the night. Oh! I'm so sorry!" She said, looking at Jacob holding all of our luggage. "That must be so heavy…you can go ahead and set it down in your room and get settled in."

I wanted to laugh, because I knew it wasn't causing him the slightest bit of discomfort to be carrying the 100 some pounds of baggage, but instead, I almost choked on my own spit as I realized what she had just said.

"Our…room?" I asked skeptically.

She nodded excitedly and mouthed, 'you're welcome.' I hugged her once more, then led Jake down the stairs to the guest bedroom in the basement.

He set down our bags without a word, and eyed the massive bed in the middle of the room with a raised eyebrow. Then he peeked into the bathroom, saw the Jacuzzi, and raised his eyebrow higher.

He stared at me like that for a minute then said, "she's letting us stay down here _alone_?"

I nodded, trying to seem nonchalant, even though my stomach was in knots. "Sometimes she blurs the line between mother and friend, but this time I don't know if I mind." I said really shyly. "Come on, let's go introduce you to Phil."

* * *

My mother's dinner was actually acceptable. I'd even venture so far as to say it was good. I was testing out the mashed potatoes when she asked what I had been up to lately.

Oh, only nearly getting killed by a redheaded vampire, breaking up with my fiancé, watching the man I love imprint on someone else, watching her die, finally being together with him, and now hiding from more vampires who want to kill me.

"I'm thinking about where I want to go to college, spending time with Edward's sister, Alice, spending time with Jake, working, the usual."

"How is Edward taking the breakup?" She inquired.

I shifted my eyes sideways to see if I could catch Jacob's expression, but he was busy trying to eat as little as he could to be polite while still satisfying his monster appetite.

He's sad, but actually, he's a vampire too, so he has eternity to get over it.

"He's doing okay. We saw him the other day and he seemed to be fine."

"What about you, Jacob? What are you up to these days?" She had been doting on Jacob since the second we settled in. I didn't know anyone who wouldn't like Jake (besides the vampires), but she had taken a particular liking to him.

Want to hear something crazy, mom? Jacob is a werewolf. And remember those vampires that want to kill me? He's busy plotting against them. I know. Small world.

"I work a lot, and spend the rest of my time with Bella."

My mom had a dreamy look on her face as she watched Jacob watch me. I just knew she would say something about it later.

"You two look so happy together." Or now.

"We are." Jacob confirmed, putting his arm around my shoulders and making me forget to tell my mom to stop being embarrassing.

After we ate, Jacob and Phil settled down on the couch to watch a game and bond, and my mom and I washed the dishes and sat around the table and talked.

"What are you thinking you might like to do after college?"

I sighed. I had been thinking a lot about this lately. "I think I would like to open a bed and breakfast." I waited for her reaction, even though I knew she would be supportive of anything I suggested.

"That's wonderful, sweetie. It sounds just like you. Maybe Jacob could be your partner in business," she winked at me, and I blushed. "I see the way you look at each other. It's like Edward, but so much different. There's just as much love, but it's so different, so intense in a different way. You fit together well, as opposed to with Edward, where it was like you had to accommodate to him." She had no idea. "What are your thoughts on your relationship with Jacob?"

I bit my lip, debating how much to tell my mom.

"Jacob loves me with more than I ever thought possible. He is everything I need, and you're right, I don't need to change for him. He is perfect for me in every way, mom. I really love him. I know I made the right choice." As I spoke, the reality of the words sunk in, and I noticed my eyes were watery.

She beamed at me. "And are you two…physical?" She implied the meaning with a waggle of her eyebrows. "I know you said it wasn't like that with Edward, but things could be very different with Jacob."

I flushed again, but I knew I could tell my mom anything. "Not yet," I said quietly.

"Well, when you are, just be sure you're being careful. Should we get you on birth control? Do you think that's something you need?"

"Sure, that would be great," I spat out quickly, wanting desperately to change the subject. "What about you, mom, how have you been doing recently?"

We talked until pretty late at night, which didn't seem so late for me because of the time change, but when my mom decided to go to bed, I went to grab Jacob from the living room. He and Phil were laughing at a joke Phil had just told, and when Jake saw me he seemed to forget he was in the middle of a conversation.

"Is the game almost over?"

He shook his head. "Nah, but I'm ready for bed." He jumped up, and said good night to my mother and Phil.

We shut the door behind us when we got downstairs, and Jacob was looking at me expectantly, but I grabbed my pajamas, said, "I need a minute," and ran to the bathroom. I brushed my teeth and my hair, put on my shorts and tank top, and mentally prepared myself for what was about to happen.

I adjusted my shorts and walked out. My stomach settled immediately when I found Jacob face down on the bed, snoring. I sighed, crawled in on the other side of the bed, turned out the light, and fell asleep.

* * *

I woke up the next morning to find Jacob still sleeping, but I knew he must have been up in the middle of the night, because he was wearing athletic shorts and no shirt, and was snuggled up next to me. I was hungry, so I left him in bed because I knew he needed the sleep, and went upstairs.

"Morning, Bella! Where's Jacob?" My mom sang excitedly.

"He's sleeping still. He works a lot, and is really tired right now."

"Well go wake him if he's hungry, I made waffles!" They looked slightly burnt, but she hadn't set anything on fire, so I deemed it a good job.

"That's okay, I'm going to let him sleep for a while."

"Okay, well you can always reheat them later. Phil and I are going out onto the back porch for a while. It's a beautiful day. What are you and Jacob planning to do today?"

"I hadn't thought about it yet, but we'll probably go down to the beach. I've missed the sun."

She laughed and pushed Phil's wheelchair out the back door.

I finished eating and went down to take a shower. When I got out, I wrapped a towel around my head and under my arms and brushed my teeth. I went to put on my clothes, and realized I hadn't brought any in with me. I towel dried my hair and brushed it out. I cracked the door open, hoping to God I would find Jake still asleep. Thankfully, he was still lying there in bed. I tiptoed across the room to my suitcase and unzipped it as quietly as possible, pulling out my bathing suit, shorts, a tank top, and flip flops. I stood up and pranced back to the bathroom, but froze in the doorway when I heard, "well hello there, beautiful."

I was mortified. I made sure my towel was tight against my body and I whispered, "hi." Then shut the door as fast as I could.

I came out a few minutes later, and Jacob was sitting on the edge of the bed, eyes glued to my body. It made me feel sexy, and I forgot how embarrassed I had been a few minutes ago.

"I can't wait to see what's under that," he said with a big grin on his face.

My heart was thudding at the thought of Jacob and I together in less clothes than what we wore now, and my stomach tightened. He was holding out his arms, so I went over and stood between his legs. He hugged me to his body, and said, "I'm sorry I fell asleep last night. I should be caught up by now. I promise I won't be so lame tonight. I can't believe I wasted one of our nights together," he berated himself.

"It's okay," I was running my fingers through his hair, and I knew he could hear my still overreacting heart.

"What are we doing today?" He asked me.

"Going to the beach. Is that okay?"

"Of course! I love the beach. Especially when it's actually warm!" he joked. "I'll get in the shower, then."

He did as he said and then ate a quick breakfast. I grabbed sunscreen, towels, sunglasses, and bottles of water, and peeked my head out the back door.

"Mom, we're going down to the beach."

"Okay honey, here's $20 for lunch, and Phil's keys are on the counter so you can take his car."

"You don't have to do that…Thanks."

Neither of us knew the area, but I showed Jake a map of where the beach was, and he navigated our way there. I frowned at his directional skill—I still wasn't used to everyone being better than me at everything.

The beach was extremely busy, so we walked and walked until we found a spot that was sort of remote. We laid down our towels and Jake whipped off his shirt. I couldn't help but look at the gorgeous body that was now mine. His comfort with his body made me slightly more comfortable with mine, and I lifted off my shirt as well. I began putting sunscreen on, and was about to ask if Jake would help me with my back, but he was already on top of it.

I was expecting the usual flinch when the cold sunscreen touched my body, but Jake had rubbed it in his hands and it was warm as he massaged circles on my back. I relaxed and closed my eyes as he sensually worked it in. My mind began to wander to bedroom activities, and the mixture of that and his hands on me had me so turned on I accidentally let out a groan. My eyes flew open and I slapped my hand to my mouth.

He removed my hands, and his bare chest pressed against my back, relaxing me again.

"Don't be embarrassed, Bells. That's really sexy," he winked.

"Sorry, I'm just not used to…this…" He knew I was talking about the difference between him and Edward.

"Let's not talk about him just now, let's focus on us."

And we did. And the tension between us grew by the second. It grew as I watched him watch me sunbathe, as he ordered for both of us at the burger place because he knew what I liked, as I fell asleep when we got back on the beach and I talked in my sleep…

I woke up from my nap having rolled into Jacob, and I was really hot. I backed away, looking up into his excited face. I knew that look. I'd seen it way too often. It was the one people always wore when they wanted to tell me what I said in my sleep.

"What?" I asked groggily.

"You were saying 'My Jacob' again."

I smiled. It didn't surprise me one bit. "Of course I did. I used to differentiate between my Jacob and just Jacob as the one I liked and the sullen, moody Jacob. But now you're just mine."

He liked that. "I won't ever be the other Jacob again. You make me so happy. I will be _your_ Jacob every day for the rest of our lives." He planted a quick kiss on my lips.

I lay in bliss for a moment, until I realized I was sweltering. "God, Jake, why did you let me sleep so close to you when we're already on this hot beach? I'm sweating like a pig. There's no way that could be attractive."

"Sorry! I didn't really think about it. But sweating brings out your natural scent, and due to my incredibly convenient imprinting and werewolfness, a sweaty Bella is a good Bella." He laughed. "If you're uncomfortable, though, I know how to cure that," he picked me up, flinging me over his shoulder, unbuttoning my shorts and pulling them off. I shrieked as he ran for the ocean. "JACOB BLACK! PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!"

"You wish!" He was laughing maniacally.

He pulled me off his shoulder and threw me into the pleasantly warm water. I shrieked as I came up, ready to try to dunk him, but he held me, our bodies pressed close, and he suddenly stopped laughing, bringing his hands to my neck and leaning in. I followed suit, and when I closed my eyes, he pushed me underwater.

I came up sputtering, and smacking his shoulder as he made fun of me. I could see the mischief in his eyes of his next planned attack. "Oh no you don't!" I launched myself onto his back, but he was so tall and since I was standing in water, I just slid off his body and back under the surface.

He was laughing uncontrollably at my expense, as per usual, so I took this opportunity to kick the back of his knees and make him fall face forward. He emerged from the ocean and shook his head back and forth like a dog to rid his hair of water. I closed my eyes to avoid getting water in them, but as I opened them, I vowed never to shut them again. The sun made Jacob's skin glow, reflecting off the water droplets, and casting shadows that made his muscles and facial features even more defined.

I knew I looked awestruck, but I couldn't help it. Plus, he was looking at me the same way. He always looked at me that way, and I knew I looked like a warty old witch compared to him. I silently thanked the fates for imprinting.

I realized my hands had drifted to his abs while I was admiring him. He placed his hands on my back and kissed me sweetly.

I broke away, and when I looked around, a few older couples were watching us with smiles on their faces.

We left the water and dried off in the heat. After laying there for a few hours, talking about whatever came to mind, the sun started to go down.

"Should we head home?" I asked him reluctantly, never wanting this day to end.

"Sure. Are you hungry, though? We could stop to get something on the way."

"What did you have in mind? Pizza? Sandwiches? More burgers?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of ice cream."

"That's hardly dinner!" I scoffed, rolling up our towels and shoving them in the beach bag.

"Who says I was talking about dinner? I saw a cute little ice cream shop on the way to lunch. Let's go there."

We found it easily, and it was pretty busy, so Jake left me to find a table while he went to order.

I walked around the corner, where I found empty tables, and I had barely sat down when a man who was probably my age sat next to me. He had slicked back dirty blond hair, he was wearing sunglasses even though it was almost dark, and he was wearing an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt, so I could see his severely out of shape, pale chest.

"Was that your body guard? Are you someone famous?" His voice was even greasy.

"Hardly," I laughed, hoping Jacob would hurry back so this guy would leave.

"I don't believe that. You're pretty enough to be one." He was scooting his body uncomfortably close to mine.

I scooted the other direction. "Thank you, but I'm waiting for my boyfriend to get back. You should probably go. He has a bit of an anger issue," I laughed inwardly at my little joke.

He put his arm around me tightly and I stiffened. "Don't worry, doll. I can take him," He kissed my cheek.

"I really doubt that, but…you're about to find out. LEAVE ME ALONE!" I yelled, not loud enough to attract a lot of attention, but loud enough I was sure Jake's super hearing would catch it. I pushed him away from me to no avail; he had a death grip on me. He had grabbed my face and was trying to turn it toward him when Jake came barreling around the corner.

"Get away from her this instant or die!" his alpha-sounding voice boomed. The man did as he said (I don't know anyone who would be stupid enough not to), but stood behind me, playing with a lock of my hair. I could feel something pressing into my back that I knew wasn't his cell phone. I jerked my head away from his grasp.

"Die? That's a little dramatic, don't you think? _You're_ the boyfriend?" He asked, sizing up Jake.

"That's right," Jake fumed.

"You are one lucky man," he dropped his voice, but I could still hear. "I bet she looks great naked—" he didn't get a chance to finish his thought due to Jacob's fist colliding with his face. The force of it had caused him to fly backward into the brick of the building.

He lay on the ground, nursing what was surely a broken nose and cheekbone. I looked at Jake in horror, and he came to my side immediately.

"Sorry about that. Are you okay?" he asked me.

"I'm fine, he was just disgusting."

"He's even more disgusting with blood dripping down his face. Did he hurt you? I can kill him if you want." It was only now that I realized he was shaking.

"Calm down, Jake. We don't need to make a scene of the supernatural here," I laughed. "I think you hurt him enough." He was growling, but the shaking slowed. "Let's go."

We got back to Phil's car and I wrapped my arms around Jake.

"I'm okay, really. Thank you for that." He was relaxing under my touch.

"I wonder if you'll ever stop attracting danger," he mused with a small grin.

"Probably not, but at least you'll always be there for me." This made his smile grow.

"That does make everything better, doesn't it?"

"Sure does," I settled in to his side.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm sure," I said exasperatedly. "For the last time. I have bigger things to worry about than some creep."

His grip on me tightened. "Don't worry about the Volturi right now. There's nothing we can do about it until Friday. So just relax until then, agreed?"

I nodded.

"Would you like to live here some day? In the warmth, close to your mom?"

His question took me by complete surprise, but I was still quick to answer. "It doesn't matter, it's too far away from Billy and the pack."

He sighed. "I asked about you."

"You are part of me," I replied simply. He ran his fingernails up and down my arm, and I shivered. I nuzzled my nose to his neck and kissed it.

"I'm having trouble driving…" He cautioned.

"Sorry. We're even now." I backed away.

When we got home, it was clear that the sexual tension that had been building all day had not subsided. We said quick hellos to Renee and Phil who were snuggled up on the couch watching a movie, grabbed a few slices of the pizza Renee told us to help ourselves to, shoved them in our mouths, and ran downstairs.

Jacob lay on his back on the bed and asked, "Why does being in the sun all day always make you so tired?"

"You're not going to fall asleep on me again, are—MOTHER!" I gasped as I opened the drawer in the bedside table to look for lotion.

"What is it?" Jacob was by my side instantly. "Oh my God," he rolled his eyes. "You're not actually embarrassed by a box of condoms, are you?"

"Well, it's more the fact at my mother put them there for my use, but yes. Does that surprise you?"

"Not really," he admitted. "I might have to start calling you stop sign since you're so red all of the time."

I smacked him in the arm.

"But," he added, "it's good to know they're there in case we need them…" he looked at me to gauge my reaction.

I didn't disappoint.

"I don't—I mean—we—you—I—" He cut me off with his lips.

"Don't worry, Bells, we'll start out slow." I broke away from him as horror gripped me.

"I just…how can you be so cool about it? Have you…you know…before?" I was standing facing away from him.

"No! Never! You're the only girl I've ever kissed besides Anne Phillips in the 8th grade and Judy Roberts in the 2nd grade. I'm just…I don't know…I'm comfortable with you, Bells." He was behind me suddenly, with his arms around my waist. "What about you? How was it with…Ed…ward," He forced himself to say the name in this context.

I sighed. It still tinged a bit when I thought of him. "We only ever kissed. Barely even making out—it was too much for him. I'm as new at this as you are."

He brushed my hair aside and kissed my neck, giving me chills. "Good. We'll learn together." He spun me around to kiss me.

"Wait, Jake?" I asked.

"Yeah?" He looked concerned.

"Can I take a shower first? I have sand in some pretty uncomfortable places."

He chuckled. "Of course. I'll be waiting impatiently."

I showered as quickly as I could, and my heart was practically leaping out of my chest when I opened the door to the room again. But seeing Jacob there without his shirt on, lounging back on the bed and watching TV didn't calm me down like I thought it would, it only shifted the weird feeling in my stomach from nervous to excited. Today's sun had left his skin even darker than before, and I had the sudden urge to run my hands all over him. So I took a running leap onto the bed and did so. His lips found mine as his hand found the remote control to turn the TV off, and then made their way to my back. He pulled me so I was straddling his waist, sitting in his lap, and he deepened the kiss. My heart burned in anticipation as our tongues danced, tasting the sweet taste of my Jacob. His fingers tangled in my hair as mine traced the lines of his muscles.

When neither of us could breathe any longer, he leaned back and pulled off my tank top. His hands cupped my breasts through the fabric of my bra as his mouth explored my neck, sending me into a frenzy. I hadn't been able to catch my breath, and I could feel wet heat start to form between my legs.

His fingers found their way to the clasp on my bra and he said, "Is this okay?" I could only nod feverishly. The pink fabric fell away from my chest and Jacob growled in approval. I had a feeling the gentleness of his moves up until this point had been a struggle.

"There is nothing more beautiful than you in the entire world, my Bells," he whispered, flipping me over so I lay on the bed under him, and he sat back to admire me. I ignored the self-conscious feelings nagging at the back of my mind and let his eyes devour me. I couldn't help but feel beautiful under his gaze.

When he couldn't hold back any longer, he lay down next to me and took my breast into his warm hand. My breathing picked up just at the simple touch. I could feel his arousal pressing into my thigh as his fingertips rubbed circles around my hardened nipples. I squirmed beneath him at the pleasure of the unfamiliar touch as he took my nipple between his thumb and forefinger and pinched lightly.

I let out a yelp of pleasure, and closed my eyes. I was experiencing so many new feelings that I didn't know how to handle, so I let my body rule. He took my nipple into his hot mouth, running his fingers over the tip of the other one, and I was in ecstasy. I moaned as Jacob flicked his tongue at it, bit it lightly, and then brought his face to mine. "Sexy," he whispered, panting. "Should I stop here for tonight?"

No matter what I had thought beforehand, every part of my body was screaming 'NO,' so that was the message I relayed.

He stared into my eyes with his beautiful black ones, and reached a hand down toward an area of me that had never been touched before. I was practically bursting with anticipation. He slipped his hand under the waistband of my shorts and panties and in what seemed like slow motion, touched me. I jumped at first, but he slowly slid a finger between my folds and ran it slowly up and down the slit, exploring me for the first time.

"You're so wet, Bells."

I couldn't speak. I only moaned. He rubbed his finger in a circle on my clit, and I was shaking. "God that feels…so…good, Jake," I managed to get out. My voice came out deeper than I was used to, but it clearly turned Jacob on, because I felt his hardness throb against me. I honestly thought my body was going to combust with heat and pleasure. In no time at all, I felt something building in my core.

I let out whimpers of delight, which were growing louder and more uncontrollable. My breath came faster and my muscles were contracting, learning to deal with this extreme ecstasy I was feeling. Jacob covered my mouth with his just as I reached my climax, and I let out a strangled yell against his lips. I relaxed back and he gazed at me adoringly.

I forced myself to keep taking deep breaths, and open my eyes to look at him.

"Jake…" I whispered. "That was unbelievable."

He chuckled, and kissed me lightly. "That was great for me too. The sight of your body and knowing I was making you feel that way really got me going…" He looked pointedly down below his waist.

I followed his gaze with my hand and undid the button on his shorts.

"You don't have to do that, I—" It was my turn to silence him with my kiss. In an unusual burst of courage (I was starting to wonder if there was anything Jacob couldn't make me do), I reached my hand down his boxers and he gasped when my fingers encircled his shaft. I tried to do what felt natural, and I must have been doing it right because as I watched, his face contorted with satisfaction and he thrusted his hips to oppose my pumps. Our mouths never left each other as I worked him into oblivion. I felt him stiffen against my hand and he broke away from my lips to say, "I'm coming." He shook as his orgasm pulsed through him, then collapsed back against the pillows, with a huge grin on his face. I snuggled up against his chest, looking into his eyes, and he said in a husky voice, "God damn it, Bella. I love you so much." He wrapped his arms tightly around me and we fell asleep in pure bliss.


	11. The Way You Move

I want to start with an incredibly heartfelt apology. There is no excuse for me waiting this long to update, and I want you to know that I have been missing this story as much as you all have. I wish I could tell you that I had something incredible in store for you with this chapter to make up for it, but I will leave that up to your judgment.

I also would like to point out for those of you who were interested and wondering, the title of this chapter is not referencing Outkast :)

With that, here is chapter 11! Enjoy!

**_Affinity_**

**Chapter 11**

**The Way You Move**

**Jacob's POV**

The morning after our amazing night together, Bella and I woke up to our cell phone ringing.

"Hello?" I answered, my voice sounding tired.

"Hello, Jacob," came Edward's voice. "I just wanted to check in and make sure everything was okay down there with you and Bella."

"Who is it?" Bella asked groggily.

"Edward," I told her.

"Oh. Tell him hi. Where's my shirt?" She sat up looking for it and I couldn't take my eyes off of her.

"Everything's fine here. She says—"

"I heard," I could practically feel the tension and anger in Edward's voice.

"—hi and she can't find her shirt."

There was a long, awkward pause. I felt bad because I knew what Bella would say if she knew I was happy that he was jealous, but I couldn't hide my grin, anyway.

"It's good to know you haven't had any trouble. Call if you run into any problems. Good bye."

Bella turned an evil eye on me as I put the phone aside, but slapped my arm half-heartedly and said, "I told you. Stop being a sore winner, Jacob Black."

"Please accept my sincerest apologies, Miss Swan."

"Apology accepted. Now let's go eat! I'm hungry!" She jumped up eagerly.

"Increased appetite?" He wiggled one eyebrow.

* * *

We ate and spent the majority of the day around the house with Renee and Phil. I hadn't thought I wasn't going to like them, but it surprised me how much I actually did. They were really great, and I was glad Bella had wanted me to meet them. At lunch, Phil surprised us with tickets to his team's game that night.

"We obviously won't be able to join you," he motioned to his leg, "but I thought it would be something you might enjoy."

"Thanks!" I accepted the tickets, feeling excited. I loved baseball as much as the next guy.

Phil wanted to let me borrow his team t-shirt with his name on the back, but even though he was a muscular guy, I was much bigger, and nearly ripped the shirt. Bella, on the other hand, fit perfectly into her mother's shirt that also had Phil's name and number on the back. I couldn't stop telling her how adorable she looked.

* * *

I looked over at her as we pulled in the parking lot and said, "would you rather make out with Hugh Heffner or Jessica Alba?"

She laughed, and then her face turned serious and she said, "Jessica Alba. Would you rather make out with Joan Rivers or Brad Pitt?"

My face got all dreamy and I sighed, "Brad…" The parking guard waved us through to the first row of cars right in front of the stadium. "Ha!" I punched the air at my good fortune. "Would you rather…date someone who was rude and vile but drop-dead gorgeous or someone who was ugly but had was amazing?"

She tilted her head back and sideways to lean against the headrest and look at me. "Can I opt for reality on this one? Why choose one or the other when I can have both in you?"

She leaned in to kiss me and I pulled back, frowning. "Are you saying I am rude and vile and ugly?"

She chuckled loudly and jumped out of the car. We found our seats quickly and sat down. The players were warming up on the field, and we were seated next to a young dad and his son. I was scoping out the other people sitting around us, preparing myself for who I would have to take out if they pulled a bitch move like bringing an air horn or a cowbell, when Bella grabbed my hand and yelled, "Jake!"

"What?" I could see that she was very alarmed, but relief washed across her face as I watched.

"Never mind. I thought I saw Demetri over there, but it was just some weirdo who is wearing a long raincoat."

"You thought you saw Demetri? Was he _sparkling_?" I smirked. She punched my arm.

"Excuse me for watching my back."

"I've got your back, Bells. If any of those vamps came rolling in here, I'd go all werewolf on their asses."

She laughed, but I saw the father pull his son to the other side of him, farther away from us. "Maybe we should keep it down," I said meaningfully, eyeing the couple.

"Would you rather have everyone know about your…condition…or still have to keep it a secret for the rest of your life?"

I frowned. I'd thought about that before. If everyone knew, I would be stared at and avoided even more than I do being an almost seven foot tall Native American man. "I wouldn't change anything. At least I have a wonderful compromise," I hugged her to my side.

The game was starting, and I looked over at Bella, who looked slightly uncomfortable. I had her pegged from the beginning as someone who wouldn't want to make a fool of herself cheering for the team. She clapped softly as I stood and cheered while they announced the lineup, and I knew I had to break out the secret weapon: the foam fingers I had smuggled from the house.

She saw them and immediately shook her head. "No way."

I flipped through ideas in my head, trying to come up with something to convince her with that was embarrassing to her. My options were not limited in the slightest.

"If you don't, I'll ask your mom to show me your naked baby pictures." The finger was on her hand in an instant.

Once the finger was in place, the rest followed effortlessly. I had her on her feet, chanting along to the chants, singing along to the songs, and having a great time.

I leaned over to her and asked, "Would you rather streak across a field at a game this size, or sing the national anthem in your underwear at the World Series?"

She started to answer me when we both noticed the foul ball Phil's best friend had just hit was coming straight toward us. I stood up, towering over everybody, including the dad holding up his kid, and I reached out with my bare hand, catching the ball out of the air. It made a terrible crashing noise when it made contact with my hand, but I just held it up happily. Bella nudged me and asked quietly, "doesn't that _hurt_?"

"Oh! Yeah…OW!" I had to pretend to nurse my hand for the rest of the game, but I redeemed myself somewhat by giving the ball to the little boy. Bella was watching me with a huge smile on her face.

Our team won the game, and Bells and I had tons of fun. Mission accomplished. When we got out to the car, she asked me what I wanted to do tonight.

"Don't know. What do you want to do? Oh! You know what I think would be fun?"

"Something I absolutely think wouldn't be?"

That Bella was a funny one. "Now, I know what you're going to say…"

"Then why ask?"

"I think we should go out."

She narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean, 'out'?"

"I mean what you think I mean."

"You really think we could get in?"

"You really think anybody is about to question me?"

She laughed at my logic.

"Come on. We can try, and if it doesn't work or we aren't having fun, we can go home."

She sighed reluctantly. "Fine. I have no idea how you get me to do all of these things."

I drove back to Renee and Phil's, thanked Phil for the great time, and told them we were going out for the night. They told us to have fun and went to bed.

We headed down to our room to change before we left. I whipped off my shirt, causing Bella to stare open-mouthed.

"Still not used to my shocking manly beauty?" I joked.

She laughed, blushing. "I don't think I will ever get used to it. What should I wear?"

I picked out a black t-shirt for myself and slipped it over my head, earning a pout from Bella. "Whatever you want."

"You're helpful." She pulled out a green tank top, capris and some sandals and turned away from me to change.

"Don't watch me," she warned, pulling her baseball shirt off.

"I'm not," I smiled. How could I not look?

"I can feel your eyes on me."

"That's not a real thing. You can't physically _feel_ someone looking at you."

"Well I can." She turned around, fully dressed and I was reminded yet again how lucky I was. And how much of a sap I was turning into. I would have to go fix some stuff to make up for this. "Do you have a plan? Where are we going?"

"I figured we'd just go downtown and see what looked good."

"Always thinking ahead," she sighed.

I laughed and pulled her onto my back, running out to the car.

We drove into town and wandered around. I grabbed Bella's hand and led her down the streets of Jacksonville.

"In here!" I pulled her in a door of a promising-looking club.

The doorman looked me up and down and then gave Bella a look. "I was hired as your new bouncer, so I'm just here to check it out and she's with me," I said with a tone of finality. He nodded and let us pass.

"Stop hyperventilating, Bells," I laughed.

"He knew!" She cried.

"He couldn't do anything, because he was afraid of getting his ass kicked by me. Aren't you glad you have such an intimidating boyfriend?" I smirked. I looked over to see the expression on her face, and I got much more than I had bargained for. She had stopped in her tracks and was glaring at me.

"Excuse me, is this a _dance_ club?" She shrieked.

"Relax."

"I can't relax. I can't dance and I swore I would never ever do so again in front of you!"

I ignored her and we wound through crowds of people, and finally found ourselves on the dance floor.

Bella looked around self-consciously and said, "no."

I smirked. "Aww, come on, Bells! It's just a little dancing! All you have to do is stand there and sway, if you want."

She sighed dramatically, but stayed where she was instead of running off, which I took as a good sign.

I looked around, and felt an atmosphere unlike any other I'd ever experienced. It was like straight from a scene from _Dirty Dancing_. People were dancing sensually to the beat of the music. I joined in. Bella watched me in awe like she had before, back out in the garage. And I could tell she was fantasizing about our naked bodies moving together perfectly…or maybe that was me. But she _was_ watching me with a devious glint in her eye, nearly masked by her embarrassment and annoyance at the fact that she was standing in the middle of a dance club.

I danced around her, keeping eye contact but not touching her, while she swayed to the music. Soon, a beautiful Hispanic girl danced her way over to us.

"Let me show you how it's done," she said, locking her eyes on my face.

I turned away from Bella, curious, and the girl took me by the shoulders and we danced. I kept enough distance between us while still being able to dance well, but Bells did not seem to be enjoying it. She completely surprised me by stepping forward and saying, "I'll take it from here."

The girl smiled and danced away as Bells grabbed my waist and pressed herself close.

She was swaying her hips side to side, and they rubbed up against mine, causing a pleasant friction. I thought of Billy dressed up as a woman and hitting on me to try and keep myself as unexcited as possible, although that was going to be difficult if Bells kept this up. It was also not helping that I could smell her becoming aroused. I hitched her leg up around my hip and ground into her. She buried her face in my neck and drew little circles with the tip of her tongue.

So maybe she couldn't _dance_ dance, but she sure as hell knew how to be sexy. I wasn't sure how much longer I could handle myself, so I urgently whispered, "let's get out of here."

She agreed quickly, and we drove down to the beach.

We wandered and wandered until we reached a deserted little cove with a driftwood log remarkably like ours back at First Beach.

"Mind if I check in with the pack?" I asked, new that I had cooled off.

"No problem," she encouraged.

I began stripping out of my clothes, and she let out a joyous giggle.

I took one leap and transformed in midair as I disappeared into some trees.

I waited for whoever was on duty to notice I was there.

_God, I hope it's not Leah,_ I accidentally thought.

_You're lucky it's not!_ Seth's voice said.

_Hello, Jacob,_ Sam's voice added.

_How is everything back home?_

_Good. There is no trace of Bella anymore, and the vampire is prepared to leave in a day._

_Cool, I just wanted to check in,_ I said, not worrying about my straying mind, which wandered to a memory of Bella dancing up on me in the club.

_All right!_ Seth cheered, cut off prematurely by Sam's _You should be getting back to her. We'll see you soon. Good bye._

Hmm. He's one to talk. Sure, most of what I saw was Jared's thoughts of him and his imprint Kim, and of course, Embry replaying the pornos he had seen recently, but Sam had been known to slip up a time or two when it was just the two of us.

I transformed as I was walking back onto the beach, and kept going. Ignoring Bella's gaze, and diving into the warm water. I surfaced, shaking the water out of my eyes, and Bella was watching me carefully.

"Come on in!" I called to her.

She shook her head.

"I'll make you a deal. You answer a question correctly about me, and you don't have to come in."

"Deal."

"Who is my favorite member of the wolf pack?"

"Easy. Quil. He's your best friend." She folded her arms across her chest defiantly.

"Wrong!" I shouted triumphantly.

"What? You're lying!"

"Am not. Actually, it's Sam. I admire his ability to lead, and his relationship with Emily, though not ideal, is a perfect model for the rest of us. He's not annoying when he's in my head, and believe it or not, when he lets go a little, he can actually be fun. Now get rid of those clothes and get in here!"

Even though it was dark, my wolf night vision could tell she was blushing. I expected her to resist again, but it must have been my lucky night, because without warning, she stood up, and shed her clothes, piece-by-piece, as she came toward the water.

I doggie paddled (ha ha) to the shore and laid stomach-down in the shallow water, looking up at her with puppy dog eyes (Oh man, I am on a roll).

She stood tantalizingly in front of me in her bra and underwear, and held out one finger. "Close your eyes," she commanded.

I squinted, hoping it looked like I was closing my eyes.

She must have caught on, because she went out of my sight, and before I knew it, I heard a splash behind me, then felt tiny little hands pulling on my ankle.

I swam out, pulling her with me until she could barely reach the floor. She stood on her tiptoes to try to kiss me, and I helped her by lifting her up. She wrapped her legs around my waist, and for the first time, we felt our bodies, fully unclothed, pressing together.

She was ravenous, and it was driving me crazy. Her tongue couldn't get enough of my mouth, and my hands were grasping her bare, tight ass.

I let her fall a little on my torso, and my erection brushed her. My heart was pumping insanely fast, and all I wanted was to taste her. And I'm not talking about the part of her I was already tasting. I don't even think she noticed that I had brought her back to the shore, but she protested when I laid her down on her back in the sand where the waves could still barely reach us, and I tore myself away from her insatiable lips. She stopped her whining when I took her breast in my mouth. My tongue flicked at her nipple, and my teeth gently tugged at it. Her eyes were boring into me so passionately, and our connection was intensified forever, in that moment.

By the way she threw her head back, I knew she wanted more, so I crawled down between her legs, which she parted willingly. She was so beautiful, and I didn't skip a beat. I immediately buried my face in her. The mix between the taste of Bella and the salt from the water was unreal. I lapped up all of her juices, making her shriek. Her fingers grasped at my hair as I sucked lightly on her clit, and she whimpered loudly, uninhibited by our aloneness. My tongue finished the work, and she climaxed yelling my name—the sweetest sound I had ever heard.

I looked up at her with a huge smile on my face, savoring her taste.

She didn't speak for a few seconds, so I nudged her cheek with my nose.

"Wow." Was all I got in return.

I laughed. She suddenly got a mischievous glint in her eyes, and rolled over on top of me. She kissed my lips, then made a trail down my chest, across my stomach, past my hips, and I jumped when her lips touched my dick. She took me in her mouth and I almost died right then and there. My body temperature was naturally high, but her tongue felt warm and unbelievable as she gave me my first blowjob. I had no idea where she got her skill, but it was the hottest thing I had ever seen. Her incredible mouth worked me over until I came harder than I ever had in my life to this point. The orgasm tore through my body and I shook so hard that I would have thought I was phasing if I didn't know better. I called out Bella's name in a strangled voice, and when she looked up at me, we traded exhausted looks and collapsed into each others' arms.

After a while, when she had finally cooled down, she shivered, though I had no idea how she could be cold next to my scorching body. As if she could read my mind, she said, "it's the water."

I gave an apologetic smile. "Let's go get our clothes on," I tried to sound convincing even though it was the last thing I wanted to do.

When we were fully clothed (much to my dismay), we took a walk down the beach hand in hand. We were happy just chatting about whatever, but I had something on my mind. She noticed (one of her best and worst traits—that she was so perceptive), that I had been quiet for a few minutes, so she asked what was wrong. I'm sure she wasn't expecting my response.

"Would you ever want to marry me?"

She stopped, and stared at me in disbelief. I suddenly felt stupid, and I had to blurt out the rest of what I had to say before I lost confidence.

"I know you were never a fan of marriage, and that you had only agreed to marry Edward because…well…we won't discuss that, but I didn't know if that was something you would ever consider with me."

She was still staring open-mouthed. "I—I don't…It's not that I…It's true that Edward tried to convince me to marry him because of…you know..." I regretted that this was an awkward topic, because Bella and I could discuss anything. She continued. "But the truth is, I agreed to marry him because I honestly thought I wanted to spend the rest of my…life?...with him. I was only opposed to young marriage, not necessarily marriage all together." Her hand was fidgeting in mine.

"I'm not trying to get you to commit to anything, I was just wondering if it was ever a possibility. I realize that maybe because you had changed your mind about Edward, it ruined your already marred view of marriage…So I understand if you don't ever want to try it again."

"Well, how do you feel about it?" She was avoiding my question.

"Of course I want to marry you, Bells. Do you even need to ask that question?"

"Exactly."

I think my heart flew out of my chest. "You mean it? You really want to get married to me someday?"

Her face reflected my happiness. "I can't imagine anyone else better suited for me. You're it, Jake. You're the person every girl spends her life searching for. I just got lucky enough to find you, and by some unreal turn of fate, you fell for me too."

"First, you mean," I joked. I hugged her tightly, and we walked back in elated silence to the log. I hadn't realized we'd been out so long, but the sun was starting to light the horizon, and I turned to Bella. "Want to stay and watch the sunrise?"

She sat on the log in response. I followed suit and she cuddled up next to me, putting the perfect ending on the perfect day.


	12. Brotsjor

**Chapter 12**

**Brotsjor**

Even with the possible impending doom that loomed over us, this vacation had been beyond amazing so far.

My life with Jacob up to this point had been a dream. He was so perfect for me, and we were having the time of our lives.

After we stayed out at the beach that night, I passed right out, and Jacob had to carry me home, past Renee and Phil, who just smiled knowingly when they saw how carefully he was holding me.

We slept until the middle of the day, until Jake accidentally rolled over on top of me.

"Ow!" I cried groggily.

"Sa…" he grunted, rolling back over.

We both fell asleep again, but I was now lying on top of my right arm, whose hand was dangling off the end of the bed.

I woke up again later as I realized my arm was numb. I flipped over, but I couldn't make my arm move. I tried flinging it from my shoulder, and my hand went crashing into Jacob's skull and I screamed in pain. It had to pick this moment to get its feeling back…

"Your hand is cold," he mumbled.

I glared at him pointlessly, since his eyes were still shut, and staggered upstairs.

I made a groggy beeline for the freezer and wrapped some ice in a towel around my hand.

"What happened?" my mom asked me as I stumbled to the couch opposite where she and Phil sat.

"Smacked Jacob in my sleep. He's really…solid."

They laughed, and I wasn't sure if it was at what I had said, or the way I was talking like I was still half-asleep.

"What are your plans today?" Phil asked me.

"Nothing yet. What are you watching?" I turned my attention to the television.

"A show about these kids who live in the Jersey Shore? It's intriguing. It's so bad, but I can't stop watching."

An hour later, Jake emerged from the basement to find all three of us glued to the TV screen in wonderment. He found my side immediately and draped an arm around my shoulder. Phil gave him the same explanation of what we were watching, and Jake started watching too.

When the marathon ended three hours later, all four of us were still fixated on the TV.

"Wow," Phil mused. "I feel dumber."

"What a trainwreck," I agreed.

"There goes your day," Renee complained.

"We wouldn't have had much time anyway, mom, Jake slept until 3:00." He gave me a look. "That's okay, though, I'm not upset. Yesterday was a long, eventful day. I'm completely fine with hanging out here for today.

Staying at home turned out to be a great idea. We played a ridiculously long game of Monopoly (which I lost after only the first half hour. No surprise there; I'd always been horrible at games), Jacob and Phil bonded while barbecuing for dinner, then we watched an incredible movie, and retired to bed early because the previous day had just taken it out of us.

The next morning, Jacob and I helped Renee bake desserts for that night's neighborhood block party. Jake was really excited for it; he loved a good time. I was not so excited, as I generally tried to avoid large gatherings of people. I didn't have time to worry about it, though, because my thoughts were wrapped up in the way he watched me all day. It was not the loving and protective stare that I was used to, but rather adoring and enraptured.

"Stop, Jacob!" I yelled as he held a measuring cup over a mixing bowl, ready to pour the contents in. "That's a cup of salt, not sugar." Out of the corner of my eye I saw Renee check the bag she had gotten her tablespoon of white grains from, and slowly dump it back in, trying to be inconspicuous.

Jake laughed it off and shook his head. "Maybe I better make myself useful somewhere else. Need someone to mow the lawn?" He asked my mother.

Renee smiled at him like he was a saint. "I've been meaning to do that. Thank you."

Jake whipped off his shirt and jogged out to the shed in the backyard.

"I thought you had it bad with Edward," my mom raised an eyebrow.

I just laughed awkwardly and let silence fall between us. My mom shrugged and started singing the Jersey Shore theme song.

* * *

The block party was actually pretty fun. There were fireworks, movies, and lots of food. My mom introduced us to the ladies she walked with every morning, and to a few of the neighbors who had children our age. "Tess! Come over here," one of the fathers called while we chatted. His daughter pulled two of her friends with her and joined us. They were very pretty—tan and blonde with athletic bodies—and before anyone said a word, I could see their eyes rake over Jacob, clearly satisfied with what they saw, because they gave him their best smiles. He smiled back politely. As an afterthought, they smirked at me, and appraised my limp long hair, department store clothes, and lobsterish sunburn.

"This is my daughter Tess and her friends Alaina and Catherine," Tess' father said to me, pointing each of them out. "Maybe you kids can keep each other company."

The girls seemed to like the idea of spending time with Jake.

Tess held out her hand to him and said, "nice to meet you…"

"Jacob," he responded, taking her hand quickly. "Nice to meet you too," he shook the other girls' hands as well.

"Are you new here?" Catherine asked. "We saw you outside today," the girls turned to each other and giggled. I knew they were thinking of my boyfriend shirtless, and I blushed. Who knows why it caused a blush, but it seemed to be my fallback reaction, so I sighed and submitted myself to the red heat.

"We're just visiting. I should introduce you to my girlfriend, Bella.

"Hello." I was thankful for my sunburn for the first time, since my blush was probably not visible.

A bunch of us are having a bonfire on the beach if you'd like to join us," Tess invited us, though I think she probably hoped I wouldn't come.

"That sounds like fun!" Jake said, pulling me along.

We mingled for a while, or…I should say that Jacob mingled for a while, while I watched him. I had never really seen him interact with anyone besides the La Push crew and the Cullens. Since the Cullens naturally couldn't stand him, and the pack naturally loved him, I had never taken notice of his relationships with others. As I watched, awe washed over me. Whereas people shied away from the Cullens, people were drawn to my Jacob. I couldn't be sure if it was because he was built to protect humans, or if it was more simply because of his inviting attitude and friendliness. He pulled me into the conversations as often as he could, but he understood my shyness, and mostly just kept his arm tightly around my waist.

About an hour after we arrived, a truck backed up to the beach and two guys got out, and pulled a keg out of the truck bed. The other kids crowded the keg, pumping their Solo cups full of beer.

"Do you want some, Bells?" Jake asked me, motioning toward the cluster of teenagers.

"I…uh…no, I haven't…I don't…" I let the jumble of words trail off. I felt the blush creeping up again, but I knew the sunburn wouldn't keep it from Jacob. He could probably feel it or smell it or hear it or something. Damn him and his super senses.

"You haven't had alcohol before." He guessed correctly.

I nodded embarrassedly.

"Don't be embarrassed about it, Bells, there's nothing wrong with that. You don't have to have any now either, I was just being polite."

He always knew how to make me feel better. "Do you want a drink?" I asked him to reciprocate his politeness.

"Nah, I'm not crazy about beer, and because I'm a freaking giant, it takes a ton of that shit to get me even a little buzzed."

"So you've been to a party before?" I asked, a little bummed that he had more experience than I did in something, though it was naïve of me to think that we could have _all_ of our firsts together.

As always, he knew what I was thinking and he could see that I was disappointed, and he said "don't worry, it was just out in the garage with the guys. But you're headed to college in a little over a month here, so we'll go to our first college party together."

I smiled at him, but my attention was drawn away by one of the guys that I could tell everyone idolized, who sat down with his guitar and started playing. We all gathered around the fire to listen. Jake lay back and pulled me down with him. I cuddled in and we sat in silence for a minute.

"Oh!" Jacob suddenly exclaimed. "I forgot to tell you that Sam called earlier. He wanted to tell me that the Cullens apparently picked up a new member."

"What?" I didn't know how to feel about that, but Jacob's arms were comforting, so I decided the feeling was curious. "Who is it?"

"A nomad they came across when they were hunting. She was looking for others, and they were the first to find her."

"Huh," I wondered. Jake and I fell back into silence. I could hear Tess and her friends sitting near us and gossiping about the various boys gathered around the fire.

"What about that Jacob, hmm?" one of them asked the others.

"He's dreamy, all right. I wish he were single," another one added.

"He should be," the first one commented. "That girl is nowhere near his league. I mean, did you see his body this morning? Gah, I just wanna—"

I couldn't hear the rest because suddenly, Jake was whispering in my ear. "You ready to go, my beautiful girl?"

I turned my head slightly to kiss him quickly before I nodded and stood up. We waved to the people we had just met, and I made sure to grab his hand while they were still watching us. He kissed my head in response, and I smirked.

As we walked away, he asked, "that didn't bother you, did it?"

"Which part?" I asked. "I know you're out of my league, so that didn't bother me, but I might have been a little…jealous." I blushed, but he grinned.

"You better get used to it. I'm a tasty, tasty piece of man candy." I swatted at his arm. "But you should never feel like I'm out of your league. You are the Mike to my Ike."

"And you're the Jelly to my Belly."

"The Laffy to my Taffy."

"And you're my little Nerd." I leaned my head against him while we walked. "I'm so lucky to have you, Jake."

He smiled hugely. "It's not luck," he reminded me. "It's fate."

* * *

Our cell phone rang early the next morning.

"Hello?" I picked it up because Jacob had a pillow over his face.

"Bella, I need to speak to Jacob. Now." Edward's voice sounded extremely tense.

"What's wrong, Edward?" Jacob roused at the sound of his name and snarled.

"I'll let him explain. This is urgent."

I handed the phone to Jacob, looking worried. He suddenly became alert and grabbed the phone.

"Cullen."

I heard Edward's muffled voice coming from the other side, and as he talked, Jacob's expression turned grave, and he started packing his bag, motioning for me to pack mine. I could hardly do anything because my hands were shaking so badly. What if someone was hurt? What if something had happened to Alice in Italy? I didn't have a chance to think too much about it, though, because Jacob hung up and walked over to where I was. He grabbed my head and kissed me before saying, "pack, I'll talk."

I nodded, but now I was even more worried. Jacob looked pained, and his eyes were wild. He wouldn't care what was happening with the Cullens. It had to be one of the wolves. He started talking fast.

"We have to get out of here now. Those creepy Italian bloodsuckers came to Forks to check on Alice's story, and of course, they found nothing, but Edward had been able to hear Alice coming, and they gathered with the wolves, ready to fight if they had to. The Italians were angry and shocked about us being there, but they were in for another surprise. The new vampire that has been staying with the Cullens…she's got a superpower or whatever the hell it is. She can stop other leeches' powers. She's extremely powerful. The creepy leader decided right away that he wanted her, and Edward could see that she would have liked going with them because she was having a hard time committing to the _vegetarian_ lifestyle," he shuddered. "So they offered to trade her for an agreement that the Italians would never touch you, them, or us again. The leader was so happy with his new prize that he agreed without second thought. When they were leaving, the one who can track people's minds decided he hadn't come all this way for nothing, and he thought he could feel your mind, even though he knew you blocked him. You know why he thought that, Bella?"

I shook my head, eyes wide. I hoped I was wrong about what I suspected was coming.

"Because of me. Because of the fucking connectedness of the pack mind. If he could track one, he could track us all. And because of imprinting, my life is so intertwined with yours that he thought he was on to something. Of course, he was right. So right now, he's on his way down here to find us. The other creepy leeches didn't approve of him going, and the leader was actually very angry, but they weren't about to bother stopping him. Edward is on his tail, and I'm not worried about taking him on, but we need to get you out of here." He threw on his shirt and grabbed his bags. I did the same, still with shaking hands.

He hugged me tightly. "I'm so sorry. I won't let him hurt you, Bells."

"I'm worried that _you_ might get hurt," I whispered to him.

"Don't worry. As soon as Edward gets here, he will be outnumbered." He looked at me. "Stop hyperventilating."

I took a deep breath. "Okay. Let's get out of here."

I left a note for Renee explaining that we had to get home because one of Jake's friends was hurt, that I loved her, and promising her that I would talk to her soon.

We caught a cab, because it was the fastest at this point, and took it to the nearest large tree-covered area we could find.

We ran into the trees and stashed our baggage, and Jake started taking his clothes off. As if it just hit him, he walked over to me with sad eyes and said "I love you." I repeated his words and hugged him, my hands resting at the top of his nude butt. He walked a few yards away, phased, and we waited.

I knew he was here when Jake howled. Demetri stepped into our sight, smiling.

"That was easy," he said. And then he was flying through the air towards me.

Jacob grabbed him out of the air and they became a tangled blur of russet fur and stone.

I heard Jake yelp as Demetri's hand came in contact with his hip, but he continued fighting.

After what seemed like forever watching Jacob fight too even of a battle with the enemy, Edward stepped out of the trees.

"Demetri," he said calmly, "Step away from Jacob."

Demetri stopped immediately. He stepped back and I could see in his eyes that he thought about running as he was outnumbered.

"Aro agreed to leave my family, Bella, and the wolves alone. All I ask is for you to do the same. Feel free to run. But if you attack, it will surely be your demise."

Demetri was crouched now in a defensive stance. "If you kill me, Aro will hunt you down."

"Aro wouldn't be angry. I saw his mind earlier. He was furious with you for going against his orders. He might kill you himself. There are other trackers out there. So what choice will you make?" Edward waited for his answer. I didn't know if all of what he said was true, but he sure was convincing.

Demetri stared between the man and the wolf standing in front of him and finally spat, "fine." He turned and fled. My lungs expanded with air I sucked in after too long forgetting to breathe.

Edward approached me carefully. "Are you okay, Bella?" he asked.

I nodded in amazement. "I'm okay. Is that really the end of my nightmare? Could it really be that easy?"

"I think so. And if it is not, we will always be here for you. I trust Jacob told you everything?"

"Yes he did. Thank you, Edward." I hugged him. When I pulled away, I turned to look for Jake, but he wasn't there.

I waited a minute, searching the trees, assuming he was changing. But he never emerged. I looked to Edward, who was still at my side, with the question on my face. He shook his head slowly. Jacob was gone.

* * *

**Hi! **

**My apologies yet again for it taking me so long…and I also apologize if the chapter seemed slow. **

**I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and New Year. One of my resolutions was to get back into this story. What are your resolutions?**

**See you very soon! **


	13. Bruised and The Lonely

**A New Year treat! Love it…or else! I'm blown away by how many people like my story, and I want to thank my reviewers yet again! You're good to me, so I'll be good to you. Maybe if you're extra good this chapter, you'll find a steamy surprise coming your way soon :)**

**Chapter 13**

**Bruised/The Lonely**

**Jacob's POV**

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, what did I do?

I was pacing around in the middle of the woods, probably in West Virginia by now. I was human because I didn't want anyone in my head, but I was walking around butt naked because I only had the clothes tied to my leg, and my emotional state was too shaky to risk putting them on. And it wasn't exactly socially acceptable to walk around nude in public.

I couldn't believe myself. How could I have been so cowardly as to run away?

Wait, it wasn't cowardly, it was brave, protecting Be—it hurt to even think her name. I couldn't even imagine what she was going through right now. She must have been sad and confused, but she was strong, so I bet she was okay.

Or…she was probably being comforted by Cullen, and realizing that she was wrong to leave him in the first place. He could protect her better than I could. _He_ didn't give her away to the enemy. She would leave me and go back to him for my stupidity.

No, I was disgracing her love for me by thinking she would do something like that. I liked to think that what we had was something stronger than that, but then again, _I_ was the one who had imprinted. She had no obligation to stay in this.

I forced myself to stop thinking about that, because it burned in my chest. This was about her first and foremost, and about what an idiot I was secondly. I knew the minute I left that I needed to turn around, but I couldn't. I knew Cullen had heard what I was thinking, and he would think I was weak for not being able to stand behind my conviction. Now, my pride warred with my natural instinct to be with her.

I was so mad at myself for being the reason she had come so close to death that in the moments after the truce, all I wanted was to kill the evil bloodsucker. But as I ran after him, I realized, regrettably, that Cullen was smarter than me, and he must have had a reason for settling things like he did. So I backed off. After that, I mostly felt like shit. And now I was here. In the middle of fucking nowhere. Away from my girl because when I was with her, I drew killers to her.

So I decided to give myself time to think it over. I would go stay with Rachel, my sister who went to the University of Washington until I could figure it out. That way, I could be close enough to the pack and to Bella if she needed me. Of course, I could tell that she needed me because of the tingling pull I felt in my stomach, but I'm talking real danger. As in, death. Not danger of missing me too much. Although, missing her sure was starting to feel like death.

I sighed, and did a few quick breathing exercises to calm down and clear my head so I could run to Seattle without anything on my mind.

* * *

**Bella's POV**

I used to enjoy cuddling up to Edward, but now, I shied away from his side on the airplane because the coldness didn't comfort me anymore, it only made me shiver. I was really appreciative of him right now, though, and I knew it must be hard for him to be here with me, comforting me after my boyfriend left me.

Actually, I didn't want to think of it like that. I prefer to think that he left _for_ me. Edward told me what had happened, and I thought I understood pretty well.

The majority of me knew exactly what Jacob was feeling, and wasn't upset at all. Since I knew him so well, I was almost one hundred percent sure that he would be back before long. I understood his need to preserve his dignity, and I would wait patiently until he returned.

A smaller part of me was pissed off that he would take off like that, and wanted to hunt him down.

A similar sized part of me was incredibly sad. That part couldn't wait for her boy to come back to her, and wanted to cry because she missed him already.

But the smallest part of me was terrified. Terrified that he wasn't coming back. Terrified that he had changed his mind, and that this was about something different. Terrified that he thought he would be better off without me.

I took a deep breath and looked at Edward. We were heading back to Forks, where I would be surrounded by family, both his and mine, and I would do all I could to remain calm while I waited.

"Everything all right, Bella?" He asked me. I scowled, because I bet he had different feelings in different parts of him as well. I bet he was mostly concerned for me and pretty happy to be with me, but I bet there was a small part of him that was hoping Jacob wouldn't return and that I would come back to him. He was noble, but not that noble. But I let my scowl turn into a small smile, though, because I was grateful for his presence and his friendship.

I placed my hand on his for a second to give it a squeeze. "I'm okay."

As soon as I said the words, however, the small part of me that was lonely and miserable without Jacob started to grow and grow. I pulled my knees up and hugged them. Thank goodness we were almost home, because I wanted to curl up in bed listening to sad music and eating chocolate, with Alice rubbing my back.

* * *

"I feel so alone!"I wailed to Alice, who was rubbing my back. She shushed me and put three Hershey's Kisses in my mouth.

"Nrugh unghethas muhhhh," I whined with my mouth full, then cried because I had drooled chocolatey drool all over my pillow.

Alice pulled it out from under my head, ran out of the room, and a minute later, she was back, with the pillow spot cleaned and dried.

"Now, what was that, Bella?" She asked, with a small smile on her face.

"I said, nobody understands me! And why are you laughing at your friend when she's in such misery?"

"I'm not laughing at you, I just think you're being a little dramatic."

"I'm not being dramatic, the love of my life has left me alone to die and he's never coming baaaack!"

"Bella." She said sharply. "What percent of you believes that statement?"

I glared up at her through red eyes. I decided to humor her with an answer. "Approximately six."

"Six percent. And why is it that ninety four percent of you is sure he's coming back for you?"

"Because I can feel it," I pouted. It was a dumb answer, but I knew. Leave it to Alice to make me see sense.

"So what's taking him so long?" she wondered aloud.

"I don't know. He should know that danger finds me on its own. It doesn't need his help. I think at this point, it's more of an ego thing. It be slightly deflated if he comes running back when we all know he left oh so nobly."

"He could do with some deflating," Alice muttered.

I glared. "It's okay, though. Jacob deals with things by running away and isolating himself. I get that. It's stupid, but I get that. I just want him to hurry up and sort it out already, because I'm soooo saaaad," I whined again.

"You are the most impatient person I have ever met."

"I'm the only actual person you actually spend time with. Sorry _I_ don't have eternity to be patient. Why did you stop rubbing my back?"

"I apologize, all mighty Bella." She resumed the desired activity, quickly putting me to sleep.

* * *

I woke up to hear the shower running, but I could also hear Charlie snoring in his bed. I got up to investigate these strange goings-on.

I straightened out my pajama pants and knocked on the bathroom door.

"Come in," I heard my favorite voice in the world speak.

I shyly opened the door and could see the shadow of Jacob behind the shower curtain. He peeked his beautiful head out and his hand popped out to grab my shirt and pull me toward him to kiss him. Then, he motioned for me to join him. For a moment, I considered what would happen if Charlie woke up, then I decided I didn't care. Jacob had disappeared behind the curtain once again, so I stepped out of my clothes and into the shower.

I was immediately pulled toward him, and our slick bodies were mashed together. He was hard already, and the feel of his erection made me hot. The steaming droplets of water hit my skin as I frantically clutched at his body and kissed his chest, where my head rested.

His soapy hands were just as frantic as they grabbed my breasts and massaged them, slowly grinding his hips into me. I threw my head back and moaned, and he picked me up so my mouth could reach his. I wrapped my legs around his waist, and his middle finger found my entrance. I wanted to scream as he pushed in and out of me, but I just panted into his mouth, dying for him to push deeper.

"More," I managed to choke out. He obeyed, sliding in a second finger. I cried out as his fingers moved against my smooth walls, hitting every nerve ending. My pleasure was only intensified when he bent his head and took one of my nipples into his mouth, and I was whimpering now.

"Bella?" Alice's voice called.

"Jake! Stop!" he set me down warily. "Alice is in here."

I was getting cold, being away from Jacob's body, but Alice called again.

I closed my eyes in disappointment. But I reached for Jacob to give him one more kiss, and to stay warm, but I must have found the wall, because my hand came into contact with something freezing. I craned my neck to kiss him. A cold hand pushed against my chest and my eyes snapped open, and I snapped awake.

"Oh, shit!" I cursed as I realized I was lying in bed, struggling to kiss Alice, who was pushing me back. "You are not warm. And you are _not_ Jacob. Fuuuuuhh…" I fell back onto my pillows.

Alice was grinning like it was Christmas morning.

"Dreaming about Jacob, huh?" she asked.

"No," I lied.

"Did you forget you talk in your sleep? Except…" she giggled, "there was a lot more moaning than usual."

"Oh, God," I threw my hand over my face.

"Either you've been watching some interesting videos, or you've had some new experiences since you've been with Edward," she winked.

Alice! I am _so_ not talking about this right now!" My entire body must have been red in embarrassment.

"Okay, okay. But just remember, sex changes everything. Don't go rushing into it. And be safe! If you ever need me to buy you protection, just say the word and I'll—"

"What are you, my mother?" I growled.

"I'm old enough to be your grandmother. So you better take my advice! I'm older and wiser. And I've been through all of it before. So if you ever need to talk…"

I nodded resignedly. It _was_ nice to have Alice to talk to. And I bet she had a lot of experience.

"Do you and Jasper get freaky a lot?" My horrified face turned light, and I laughed and smacked her shoulder.

She smiled back. "I won't tell you until you tell me if you and Jacob do the deed."

"_Do the deed_?" I scoffed.

"What do you prefer? Make love? Make whoopie? Fornicate? Engage in coitus? Have intercourse?" She emphasized each sound in the last word. "Or do you prefer more modern terms? Get busy? Shag? Bang? Get laid? Bone? Do the nasty? Fuck? Get jiggy with it?" She sounded astoundingly like Will Smith when she said that one. I was in tears because I was laughing so hard.

"Let's just call it sex," I wheezed when I could breathe again. "And no, we have not had sex yet. But we have engaged in…other activities."

Alice was satisfied with herself.

"Happy?" I asked her.

"Yes," she nodded seriously. "I knew there was a little freak in you somewhere."

"Everyone knows there's a lot of freak in you," I countered.

She ignored my jest and put her arms around me. "I'm so glad we're friends." I couldn't begin to tell her how much I agreed with her.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

As another day passed, I missed and doubted Jacob more and more. I had work to keep me busy, but spending time with Mike was not exactly what I hoped and dreamed, and he seemed to always rearrange the schedule so we worked together.

I was organizing the fishing poles, wondering vaguely if Charlie would like one for his upcoming birthday, when I was snapped from my reverie.

"Bella?" I heard Mike call from the next aisle. "A letter came for you. It…actually kind of looks like a ransom note." He came around the corner and thrusted the envelope at me. "Is someone blackmailing you?"

I took the letter very carefully, brows knitted together. Mike was right. For once. The envelope had my name on the front, spelled out in letters cut out from a magazine.

"Uhh…" I opened the envelope carefully. The inside read:

'THE WOODS BY YOUR HOUSE. ALONE. 10:00 PM.'

"Bella, I'm going to call the police," he turned away, a panicked look on his face.

I caught his arm and shouted "NO!"

He turned back slowly and looked at me like I was an alien. Oops. I could have been more subtle. Calling the police wouldn't do any good. If the sender was who I suspected, they could easily kill the cop who showed up. Plus, in Forks, "the police" equaled Charlie.

"Sorry," I blushed. "I don't want to freak out my dad."

"Everyone should be freaked out. Do you know who this could be? Who could want to hurt you?"

Any number of evil Italian vampires who found out that I was still alive and what my boyfriend and ex-boyfriend did to their friend.

"Nobody. Don't worry, it's probably a joke Alice is playing on me. She likes to watch me overreact to everything."

"That's a pretty sick joke," Mike eyed me suspiciously, but sighed and returned to his work when I continued to give him my best reassuring gaze.

When he turned the corner, my knees started shaking, my emotions finally catching up to me. Someone was coming for me to avenge Demetri. With my luck, it would be Jane and she would torture me nearly to death before killing me off. I shuddered at the thought. How could they have found out? My head was spinning.

Option 1: They never believed the story. Entirely possible. Aro could have become bored with pursuing me and decided to ignore the lie. Meaning I was still in mortal peril.

Option 2: Someone followed Demetri and witnessed the whole thing. Less likely, since Edward would have heard them and finished them off.

Option 3: Someone had betrayed us. Even less likely.

I shook my head to clear the thoughts. My shift was almost over, then I had just under 3 hours to prepare myself for my imminent demise.

Apparently I had already resigned myself to dying. I saw no other way out. I could not involve any of the others, for fear that they would be hurt. I had been through this once before with James, and my decision had not changed. I would not put anyone else in danger. There. It had been decided. I just wished I could have seen Jake again before-

Thankfully Charlie was working a late shift at the station tonight, because I couldn't bear to think of one of the Volturi catching his scent and coming after him.

I threw my work clothes down on my bed as soon as I got home, and caught sight of a pile of clothes on my desk chair that hadn't been there before. There was a folded note on top. I nervously took a step toward the chair and picked up the note. The lettering was in magazine cut-outs again. I held my breath as I read.

'WEAR SOMETHING MOUTHWATERING.'

I dropped the note, frozen in fear.

Maybe following their instructions would buy me a few extra minutes. I gulped and took the clothes into my hands.

Remembering the first time I waltzed to my death, I penned thoughtful letters for both Charlie and my Jacob, and placed them on my pillow, then spent my last hours fixing my favorite dinner and sitting at the kitchen table staring at my hands.

When the clock struck 9:59, I stood bravely, and grabbed my jacket. I walked out the door and turned left to where my fate awaited me.

Each step was harder than the last. I broke through the line of trees at the edge of the forest and stopped. My heart was pounding as I looked around. A shadowy figure straight ahead started to grow closer and I fell to my knees, defeated.

"Bella? What's wrong?!" The voice—the only voice that mattered to me in the world—asked frantically.

I couldn't move my legs, but I pleaded with him, grasping for the hem of his shirt as he came closer. "Jacob, we have to leave! The Volturi are coming here. For me!"

I had barely begun to process why he would be here in my woods, when he pulled me to my feet and started laughing thunderously.

I stared at him incredulously. "What on Earth is funny about that? We have to leave now!" I urged as he supported my weight so I wouldn't collapse again.

"What's funny," he started in the calmest voice I have ever heard from him. I didn't think it was possible for me to calm down at all, but my heart rate was dropping with every second I heard his voice and felt his touch. "Is that there seems to be a serious misunderstanding here."

I was utterly confused. I couldn't make out much more than the outline of his face in the dark forest, but I could tell he was still smiling.

"The Volturi are not coming for you. This was supposed to be our big reunion."

I frowned as I started to understand.

"You sent the notes." I concluded.

He nodded and I could tell he felt proud. I let out a huge sigh of relief that my life was not about to end.

"Why so cryptic?" I asked, shaking my arms and loosening his grip on me. I was relieved to know that I could stand on my own again, though my legs were still wobbly. And so was my temper.

"I didn't know how mad you were that I left, so I didn't want you to know it was me. You might have decided you didn't want to come." He shrugged, and bowed his head.

I could feel the heat rising in my face along with the volume of my voice. "And you thought that making it seem like a killer wrote it was a better alternative?!"

He laughed again. "Now that you mention it…I thought it was clever!"

"'Wear something MOUTHWATERING'?" I shrieked, quoting the note, and backing away from Jacob now.

"I guess that does seem like a bloodsucker wrote it. Hmm."

Leave it to Jacob to find that funny instead of apologizing. I stomped my foot in anger.

"Oh come on Bella," I could practically hear him rolling his eyes. "Can we just start over? Whatever I was hoping for in our reunion, it wasn't this!"

I took a couple steadying breaths and nodded. "Yes."

I walked back out of the forest, waited a few seconds, turned around, and promptly re-entered. It was much easier this time, since I knew that what awaited me was not a merciless vampire.

"Hi Bella," the shadow said. Before I could respond, Jake narrowed the distance between us and scooped me off the ground. I clutched at his neck breathing in his scent, feeling like I never wanted to let go.

"You aren't mad at me? For leaving?" He qualified.

My voice was muffled since I wouldn't remove it from against his body. "Not really. It was very stupid and wolfy and characteristic of you."

He laughed dryly. "Thanks. Did you have a good time with Cullen?" He asked roughly.

"Yes. He was very supportive and reassuring and I had forgotten what a good kisser he was."

Jacob released me immediately and I miraculously landed on my feet.

"Oh, be serious." It was my turn to laugh. I inched closer to him. "I only want to kiss one person, and because that person left me alone for what seemed like an eternity, we have a lot of making up to do."

Jake growled a little and picked me back up, bringing my lips to his. I thought my heart would explode. I kissed him hungrily, and longed to be closer to him. I wrapped my legs around his hips and crushed my body against his. He groaned, removing his face from mine.

"What's wrong?" I searched for his lips in the darkness. "I didn't want to be done," I protested.

"While I appreciate your eagerness, and want you to know I very much return the sentiment, I do not think this is the ideal time or place to conduct such activities. I also have something for you."

"Why would you have something for me?" The words didn't make sense.

"I was expecting you to be angry with me when I came back, so I prepared just in case." He held his hand out in a ray of moonlight and I inspected the tiny wooden carving. It was a beautifully intricate sun.

"To commemorate our time in Florida, where the sun always shines."

"The sun always shines when you're around," I smiled, holding out my wrist so he could attach the charm to my bracelet. "Thank you, Jacob."

He hugged me close. "I love you Bells, sorry for ever leaving."

"I love you too. Sorry for thinking you were a murderer."

He laughed and I felt his hardness rub against my stomach. So much for "not the time or place."


End file.
